You Were Always There: Part Three
by OpenBookLina
Summary: Famous murderer Sirius Black has escaped from Azkaban, and Mia finds her work cut out for her as she tries to keep Harry out of harm's But with Dementors guarding the school, dark secrets being revealed, the Grim lurking about, and dealing with schoolgirl crushes, it's easier said than Can Mia and the others survive their third year?
1. Happy Birthday Harry

**Okay, let me just get this off my chest really quick: I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm so, SO sorry!**

**Okay, I'm fine now. Well, hello everybody! I apologize for starting up this story so late, things have been so crazy and a lot of things have happened that will take too long to explain. But good news! We are now on Prisoner of Azkaban, and you cannot imagine how happy and excited I am to be starting the third book to my series! I know this first chapter isn't much, but I love it soooo much! Just as a heads up, I know my French accent dialogue is bad, so I apologize ahead of time. Please, please review, tell me what you like, what you don't like, and note any improvements that can be made. Thank you so much for sticking with me guys, it really means a lot to me. Enjoy the first chapter, I'll get the next one up as soon as I can. Love you all, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: All things Harry Potter are not mine. **

Chapter One: Happy Birthday Harry

MPOV

"Mia! Mia come on over and look, it's amazing!"

"Hermione, I told you, I'm perfectly fine right here next to the staircase!" Mia said, her feet frozen to the spot as she glared at her best friend. "I'm not moving an inch closer."

Hermione rolled her eyes as she peeked through the telescope that allowed her to view all the many buildings and traffic that was down below in the streets. She had been telling Mia to come over and look for the past ten minutes, but the girl was having none of it. The two of them were currently on the first floor of the famous Eiffel Tower, set in the very heart of Paris, France. It was their first week into their vacation, and so far, both Mia and Hermione were having a blast.

Mia and the Grangers had arrived in France just days before, and she was barely able to sit still in all her excitement. It was late at night when their plane had landed, but that didn't stop Mia from gazing out of the car windows in awe, staring at everything around her as they drove to their hotel. They had landed in the outskirts of the city, and had driven a good couple hours until they finally reached the hotel, where they were greeted by the staff and taken to their rooms. The minute they had walked in, Mia was breathless and speechless at how open it was. The walls were painted a lovely sky blue, with cherry wood furniture, a sliding glass door leading out to a small balcony overlooking the town, white curtains, two twin sized beds with white sheets and blankets, and paintings on the walls of flowers, seashells, and women in elegant dresses. Seeing the room was like breathing in fresh air, and Mia loved it. Everyone had gotten settled right away, and Mr. and Mrs. Granger had allowed the girls to go exploring as long as they stayed close to the hotel and as long as they stayed together. Mia and Hermione took their time observing the many shops that lined the streets, and they even bought a bun from the local bakery, which was mouth-watering to the scent. After spending the first few days exploring the town, Hermione's parents surprised them by telling them that would be taking a day trip into Paris, and to say that both girls were excited would be an understatement. They had gotten up especially early that Friday morning, getting washed up and scarfing down their breakfast, running out to the rental car before Mr. and Mrs. Granger could even finish their morning tea.

When they had finally reached the city, Mia couldn't help but gaze out of the window in awe. The buildings were so tall, almost as tall as the trees in the forests surrounding Hogwarts. There were many fountains that were made of the finest marble, stone and even golden plates, with sparkling water that shined like pellets of diamonds whenever they were caught in the sun's rays. The buildings themselves were even decorated with statues and lovely carvings, some detailing the history of the city, and others of angels, and saints. What really caught Mia's attention were the people. They seemed no different than the ones she saw back in England, but at the same time they were very different. They wore colorful styles of clothing, and as she cracked open the window to get a better look at them, she could hear everyone talking in rapid French. There was even a certain _scent_ that lingered in the air—fresh baked pastries, and the alluring smell of ground coffee beans from the nearest café. They had spent the majority of the morning going around the shopping centers, where they bought gifts for themselves. There was a small corner store they had found that sold lotion, perfume, and all kinds of body products. Hermione was attached to the Strawberry Champagne bath set while Mia was fond of the Midnight Cherry Blossom. It made her feel as if she was sitting in a moonlit garden, and she fell in love with it instantly. After paying for their purchases, they came upon an antique book shop that not even Mia could find the will to pull herself away from. They ended up having a very nice conversation with the owner, who obviously knew they were foreign and was surprisingly patient with them as they looked through the tour book in order to communicate with him.

They went on to visit many more historical and popular attractions, including the Louvre, and the palace gardens. Now, they were observing the city from the Eiffel Tower, and Mia was cursing herself for getting into this. She was terrified of heights, and had only complied as long as she didn't have to go over to the railing, and they wouldn't go higher than the first floor. Mrs. Granger had politely decided to stay with Mia while Hermione's dad, Richard, went over to look through the telescopes with her.

"I don't know why I let you talk me into this," Mia mumbled.

"Because I'm your best friend and you can't say no to me," Hermione replied with a smile.

"That's debatable right now," Mia said, giving Hermione an even fiercer glare. The bushy haired girl just giggled and pointed something out to her father.

"Are you having a good time Mia?" Mrs. Granger asked.

"Definitely," said Mia, a smile tugging at her lips. Everything has been so incredible so far. Thank you so much for letting me come along."

"It was no problem dear," Mrs. Granger said with a smile. "We're glad you could come with us."

Mia smiled at Mrs. Granger as Hermione and her father came back over.

"Okay, how about we all go inside to eat?" Mr. Granger said. Mia and Hermione both happily agreed, and they all went inside the restaurant where they would be eating their dinner while having a perfect view of the city. They were seated at a booth in the left corner of the restaurant, next to a window overlooking the Arc de Triomphe. The sun was just setting over the borderlines of the city, painting the sky a beautiful pink and gold and making it so breathtaking that even though Mia didn't want to sit next to the window, she couldn't help but stare over Hermione's shoulder to gaze at its beauty. Even though there was still some daylight left on the horizon Mia could see some of the city lights flickering on in the streets below, and as she continued watching the sun sink lower into the sky, the reds, and greens, and pinks of the night life slowly and steadily starting flickering to life. While they all got comfortable and looked over their menus, Mrs. and Mrs. Granger were looking at the entrees while Mia and Hermione were quietly talking about the upcoming school year.

"I can't wait to start classes," Hermione whispered excitedly. "We get to start our electives this year!"

"Only you would think about schoolwork during the holidays Hermione," Mia giggled. I just can't wait to see everyone again—I'm really starting to miss Ron and his bottomless pit of a stomach."

"I miss him and Harry," said Hermione. "I wish they could have come with us."

"Me too," Mia admitted. "But we have two weeks left, and then we'll be home again. I still don't know what I'm going to get Harry for his birthday though."

"I found something for him in the Daily Prophet this morning," Hermione said. "A Broomstick Servicing Kit, it has everything from tail clippers to wood polish."

"He'll love it," Mia said, grinning. "Maybe I should just get him a helmet, because he's bound to hurt himself like he does every year."

Hermione giggled, and then she and Mia both straightened up as their waiter came over to take their orders. After writing down their requests, the waiter left their table, and the returned after about ten minutes with their drinks. Mia thanked him for her pink lemonade, and once he left, Mr. Granger raised his glass.

"A toast," he said. "To a marvelous day in Paris."

"To Paris," Mrs. Granger added in. "The City of Lights."

Mia and the Grangers all shared a delicious meal together, and by the time they were ready for their bill, Mia's eyes had started to droop and itch from tiredness. They left the restaurant shortly after and then started making their way back down the stairs to the ground level of the tower. Soon enough, they were back inside their car and driving off down the streets, heading towards the city exit. Mia and Hermione didn't say too much on the way back to the hotel, too full and tired to speak. The dark night skies had since been descended upon them when they finally reached their hotel, and Mia found herself dragging her feet up to their rooms. They took the elevator up to the second floor, and when they were outside in the hall, Hermione hugged and kissed her parents goodnight before Mrs. Granger wrapped her arms around Mia, causing her to blush.

"Don't stay up too late dears, we're going out tomorrow for breakfast," Mrs. Granger said.

"We won't Mum," Hermione assured her before they both bid them goodnight and headed inside the room. The minute Mia stepped inside, she slumped over to her bed and fell face-forward into it, letting out a loud moan of content at the feeling of her soft pillow. She heard Hermione turn on the light, and then she heard a sharp gasp. Wondering what was wrong, Mia picked up her head, looking over to her left—right into a pair of half open bright orange eyes.

"Eeeeeek!" Mia yelped, jumping back so quickly and so far that she tumbled off the bed and onto the floor, landing on her rear. Grumbling under her breath, Mia looked up to see a large brown owl laying on her bed, looking half-dead and completely still with a letter tied to its leg.

"Errol!" Hermione said, coming over and examining the bird. "How did he get in here?"

"I told you not to leave to window open," Mia said, rubbing her bum and standing to her feet. "Is he okay?"

"Yes, he's fine, just tired," Hermione replied. "He's got a letter from Ron!"

"Read it!" said Mia, jumping back onto the bed and pulling Errol onto her lap. Hermione took the letter of his leg, opened it, and began to read:

_Dear Hermione and Mia,_

_How's it going? You two having fun? I tell you, I wish I could have gone with you guys, I'd rather be anywhere else besides with Percy right now—he just got a letter saying he's been appointed Head Boy. He's been an absolute nightmare, strutting around wearing his new badge. Fred and George are planning to steal it and fix it up as Percy's punishment. _

_Guess what? My dad entered himself in the Ministry Grand Prize Galleon Draw—he's hoping to win a little money so we can all go on vacation this summer. I really hope he gets it, it'd be nice to spend the summer somewhere else for a change. Not too much is going on at the Burrow, my brothers and I played some Quidditch with Ginny, and Fred and George have actually been spending some more time shut up in their room than usual. Mum thinks they're up to something, but I don't think it's much to worry about, there's all kinds of noises coming from their room all the time. _

_By the way, you guys remember when Harry gave us his phone number to call him? Well, uh, don't try it okay? I tried calling him last week, and it didn't end up so well. His uncle answered and I told him I wanted to talk to Harry—okay, I yelled actually, but that's not important—and he got a bit snappy. I think I might have gotten Harry into trouble, so I would suggest not calling. I feel kind of bad, Dad reckons I shouldn't have shouted—_

Mia burst out laughing as Hermione read this, falling onto her back and startling Errol. Hermione just rolled her eyes, and as soon as Mia caught her breath, they continued on reading.

_Anyway, when are you guys coming back? We should meet up to go shopping again in Diagon Alley before school starts. My mum and dad are taking me to Ollivanders to get me a new wand, I can't wait! Let me know in your next letter okay?_

—_Ron _

"We probably should have told Ron exactly how to use the telephone before he used it," Hermione said.

"Probably," Mia agreed, still giggling. "The boy can win a life-sized chess game but can't use the telephone—honestly, we should have signed him up for Muggle Studies this year."

…..

The next week passed fairly quickly for Mia, and she was having so much fun! She and Hermione spent most of their time at the beach and hanging out around town, meeting strange and friendly people along the way. One day, Mia and Hermione rented a couple bicycles and rode along the pathway next to the beach, with Mia capturing every moment with her camera while keeping a hold of the handlebars. On a crisp Tuesday morning, Mia and Hermione decided to take advantage of the bright and sunny day and head on down the street from the hotel to the Farmer's Market, letting Mr. and Mrs. Granger have the morning to themselves. Hermione dressed in a simple pair of blue denim shorts, a forest green short-sleeved shirt, and a pair of sandals, tying her hair up in a ponytail. Mia put on a frosted pink, pleated skirt that reached just below her knees, a white beaded V-neck shirt, and a pair of her own sandals. As they walked down the road, they passed by some friendly venders who were setting up their carts for the morning crowds, waving and shouting warm greetings. When they reached the market, they eagerly checked out nearly all the carts, because along with food, the market also sold items such as clothes, jewelry, books, and all kinds of treasures that attracted tourists from all over.

Hermione dragged Mia over to the fruit cart, where they saw exotic fruits that neither of them had ever seen before. Wanting to try some, Mia, dug into her side bag and pulled out some money, buying a melon for both her and Hermione. As they turned away and started nibbling on their fruit, which was very sweet and juicy, Mia suddenly heard a voice that made both her and Hermione stop in their tracks.

"A leetle far away from 'Ogwartz aren't you dears?"

Mia whipped around to see a particular cart that was somewhat apart from the others. It was draped in rich purple and blue clothes, and covered from top to bottom in all kinds of interesting objects. There were golden chains with crystal beading dangling from the ceiling, a beautiful woven carpet displayed on a chair outside the cart, a few crystal balls lined up near the front, vials filled with, to Mia's shock, with what looked like potions for common medical needs, such as fevers and colds. Also, there were a lovely green and gold china set, a couple stacks of dusty volumes, and weird-looking amulets on the counter. But what really caught Mia's attention was the vender herself. She was an elderly woman, with grey hair mixed in with her ebony curls, which were secured in a blue scarf. She wore a royal blue ruffled skirt, and puffy white blouse, with golden earrings dangling from her ears. Mia's instant thought was that this woman looked very much like a modern day gypsy. She and Hermione stared wordlessly at the woman until she smiled, and beckoned them forward.

"No need to be surprized," she said, speaking low but clear enough for them to hear her. "You are from ze 'Ogwarts school, yes?"

"Um…how…" Mia said.

"You young ones are not ze only ones with treecks up zere sleeves," the woman replied, her fingers brushing against a pocket in her skirt which Mia could now see a wand poking forth from the top. "And you should keep yours more 'idden, too."

With a start, Mia looked down at her bag and saw that indeed, her wand tip was poking out and she quickly covered it with the top fold of her bag.

"How did you know we were from Hogwarts?" Hermione asked as they stepped closer to the cart.

"You Engleesh wizards stick out like a sore thumb," the woman chuckled. "I am Madame Zima, collector of fine gifts and treasures. You zee something you like?"

"You're the first magical person we've met since coming here," Mia said as she observed all the objects. "These are so beautiful…"

"Yes, I not zee many wizards in town," Madame Zima said. "All of zem go to Paris. You have shopping place in London, yes?"

"Yes," Hermione answered as Mia kept on looking around. She was looking over a set of glass scales when she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Buried under a feathered fan and a golden hat was a pure white conch shell, just sitting there on the counter. Mia carefully moved it from under the fan and hat, taking it gently into her hands. The shell was the color of snow, and it seemed to glow in the light of the sun, not a single scratch on its surface.

"What is this?" Mia asked Madame Zima.

"That ez something special," Madame Zima answered. "Eet 'as been charmed so ze person can hear ze music of ze ocean and rain. Much how like Muggles zay, but you can hear eet anywhere. It can also provide light to whoever holds eet, as long as they focus on ze object of zere love."

Mia stared down at the shell, and then held it up against her hear. Instantly, all other sounds seemed to fade away, and she smiled as she heard the roaring sound of the ocean waves as if she were standing right in front of it, along with the pitter-patter of gentle rain.

"It's beautiful," said Mia. "How much is it?"

"Well, eet 'as been here for a long time," Madame Zima said, looking thoughtful. "You can have eet for seven Galleons."

"I'll take it," Mia said, placing the conch down on the counter and digging through her bag for her money. Madame Zima took the conch, saying she will place it safely in a box so it wouldn't break and wrap it up.

"I'll get it for Harry," Mia said t Hermione as she counted out her gold coins. "He's never been to the ocean before—I'm sure he'll like it!"

After paying for Harry's gift, Mia and Hermione bid Madame Zima good day, and they walked around the market for a little while longer before heading back up to the hotel. Hermione's parents were fascinated with the conch shell, and took a few minutes to admire it before Mia and Hermione went to place their things down in their room. Once they walked in, Mia placed her shell on the desk and then sat down in the chair, taking out some parchment and quill so she could write a letter to her parents. In the meantime, Hermione reached under her bed and hauled a sleek black leather case with the words _Broomstick Servicing Kit_s stamped across the front onto the mattress, frowning at it.

"How am I supposed to send this to Harry in time for his birthday?" she said. "What if they open it at customs?"

"I'm not sure," Mia said. "Maybe we can go back to the market and ask Madame Zima if there's an owl post somewhere close by?"

However, before Hermione could respond, their conversation was interrupted as the window suddenly swung open from a gust of wind, and in the next moment, Harry's pet owl Hedwig came soaring through the window gracefully.

"Hedwig!" Mia beamed. "What are you doing here girl?"

Hedwig did one lap around the room and then landed on the desk surface next to Mia, staring up at her with her amber eyes. Mia smiled down at the gorgeous owl, tracing her fingers through her soft feathers as she pet her.

"This is perfect!" Hermione said. "Now we'll be able to send both of our gifts to Harry—Hedwig sure is clever."

"That she is," Mia said as Hedwig hooted in an affectionate way. While Hermione came over to also pet Hedwig, Mia turned back to her letter, dipping her quill into the ink as she started to write.

_Dear Mum, Dad, and Brian,_

_ How are you guys? I miss you all so much. It's so amazing here in France, I can't even begin to describe how beautiful it is! I love the hotel we're in, it's so close to the sea, and Hermione and I are taking advantage to having a room to ourselves. And don't worry Mum, we are doing our summer homework, Hermione keeps getting on my case about that. She wants to rewrite her History of Magic essay based on the information she got here, and knowing her, she's bound to go overboard. Yesterday at dinner Hermione and I tried vanilla and peach Crepes, and our server put on extra cream and peaches on ours. I told Hermione it was because he liked her, because he kept staring at her, but she's in complete denial. _

_ We've been spending the last few days wandering around town mostly, and yesterday we all went down to the beach. Hermione's getting a tan, and I only got burned. Last week Mr. and Mrs. Granger are taking us down to spend the whole day in the city! It was amazing, we went to the Eiffel Tower, the Louvre, the Palace Gardens, the Notre Dame Cathedral, and we might be able to go to the theatre this weekend! I'm so very excited, and I'll make sure to take lots of pictures to show you guys when I get home._

_ How are things in Little Whinging? Has Harry been by lately? I feel bad that I'm missing his birthday again this year, but I finally found a nice present to get him. It's a conch shell I bought from a local witch at the Farmer's Market. It's been charmed so you could hear rain and the ocean, and it gives light to the holder if they focus on love, at least that's what the witch said. Do you think he'll like it? I hope so, I know he's not expecting to get many gifts for his birthday._

_I love you guys so much, and I'll write again as soon as I can. _

_Love,_

_Mia_

Mia Thatcher sighed as she signed off the letter she would be sending to her parents later on. She neatly folded up the parchment, and then she slipped it inside an envelope before sealing it and writing her home address on the front. As soon as she was finished with that, she took out a new piece of parchment and started writing out Harry's letter and birthday card. She was very grateful that Hedwig had turned up—Harry's birthday was just a couple days away, and she was worried that she wouldn't be able to get him a gift on time. As soon as she was finished with the letter, she sealed it up and then turned to Hedwig.

"You feel like taking a trip back to England tomorrow morning girl?" she asked.

Hedwig ruffled her feathers in a dignified way and Mia giggled. She should know by now that Hedwig was not one to refuse any kind of challenge.

…

_Mia was running through a dark forest at night, thick, towering trees surrounding her on all sides, leaving her in almost complete darkness…and yet, she wasn't afraid. In fact, she felt happy, very near joyous. The cool air whipped her hair as she ran, dancing behind her, and the soft earth massaged her feet, leaving a trail of footprints behind her. As she ran, the thick bushes seemed to move out of her way as she approached, never giving her a scratch. She could feel her heart beat an excitement, and there was a sense of good fun, maybe even some mischief, that was coursing through her, and every once in a while she would look over her shoulder playfully, as if she were expecting someone to be behind her._

_ And indeed there was. Emerging from the darkness was a familiar raven haired boy, green eyes piercing through the shadows and a grin lighting up his face. Mia giggled and pushed her legs faster, as if this was all some great game. Soon enough, Mia broke through a thicket of trees and found herself in a clearing that was brilliantly lit by the light of the moon, chasing the darkness away. She smiled up at the moon before turning around, expecting harry to come running through the trees after her. However, instead of her best friend, there was a beautiful brown and white Stag that was emerging from the depths of the forest, its dark eyes fixed upon her. Instead of being scared or even confused, Mia smiled at the sight of the creature, holding her hand out to it. The Stag slowly approached her outstretched hand, sniffing it for a moment before he nuzzled her palm, and as she looked into its eyes, she could have sworn she saw a shade of green flash through them. In the next moment, the Stag suddenly began glowing a faint silver color, and as the seconds ticked by, the light grew brighter and brighter, with the Stag's fur turning into the color of starlight. The light grew so bright that Mia had to shield her eyes away from it…_

Mia jerked awake with a soft, quiet gasp, staring up at the dark ceiling. Her heart was beating just a tad bit faster, and it took a moment for her eyes to adjust to the darkness of the room. Swallowing hard, Mia sat up in bed, where she was tangled in the sheets. The room was as quiet as can be, and she looked over to see Hermione was sleeping soundly, undisturbed. Mia let out a breath of relief—at least she didn't wake her up. Sighing quietly to herself, Mia laid back down on her pillows, trying to figure out what her dream had meant. She hasn't had that dream since her first year at Hogwarts, and she still had no idea what it could possibly mean. Nothing had changed, she was still running with Harry through the forest, and when she turned to look at him, he was gone, and a magnificent Stag took his place. She had no idea about the significance of the Stag, or what it had to do with Harry, but she knew that she didn't have the same dream twice so far to just overlook it.

A tired yawn escaped through Mia's lips and she decided to worry about her dream tomorrow morning. Maybe Hermione will have some sort of idea of what it could mean. Mia turned her head to look over at the alarm clock sitting on her bedside table, and she smiled slightly when she saw that it was just a little past midnight.

"Happy Birthday Harry," she mumbled sleepily before closing her eyes and falling back into her pleasant slumber.

HPOV

Harry couldn't help the grin that spread across his face as he looked at his three birthday cards and letters from his friends, Ron, Hermione, and Hagrid. He had been staying up late, hoping to get some of his schoolwork done, when Hedwig, Errol, and another owl from school had shown up through his window, carrying a handful of parcels and many letters and, to his delight, birthday cards. Harry was overcome with excitement, as he had only ever received birthday cards from Mia in the past. Ron had gotten him a Pocket Sneakoscope (an object that's supposed to tell you if someone untrustworthy is around) while vacationing in Egypt with his family. Mr. Weasley had won the Grand Prize Galleon Draw, and they were using the money to visit Ron's eldest brother, Bill, in Egypt for most of the summer. Ron had sent Harry a newspaper clipping with a picture of his family, all smiling and waving in the sun. Hermione had gotten him a Broomstick Servicing Kit for his Nimbus 2000, and Hagrid had sent him some sort of monster book that he said would be useful for his third year at school.

While the monster book remained a mystery to Harry, so far he has loved all his gifts. Now there's was only Mia's gift left. Harry grabbed hold of the second parcel that Hedwig had brought him, which was wrapped in green paper with blue ribbon. Curious as to what it could be, Harry ripped off the paper and saw a rectangular box underneath, he took off the lid of the box and his eyes grew wide as he looked inside to see a gleaming, spotless white shell resting on top of a cloth, with a short letter and a birthday card next to it. Harry picked up the letter and read:

_Dear Harry,_

_Happy Birthday! I'm sorry I couldn't be there this year, so I tried to make it up by getting you a cool present. This is a conch shell, they're usually found in the sand on beaches. Hermione and I ran into a witch in the town we're staying at, and she said that this shell was charmed so that no matter where you are, you can hear the music of the rain and the ocean. She also said that if you focus on love, it will give light to whoever holds it. I thought it would make a nice gift, I hope you like it. _

_ How are things at home? How is your family treating you? Ron told us about the phone call, so Mione and I decided to sign him up for Muggle Studies. Ron wants us all to meet up to go to Diagon Alley for our school shopping. Can you come? If not, then I'll see you when I get home, okay? Behave yourself, and I'll see you soon._

_Love,_

_Mia_

Harry placed the note down on the bed and stared down at the shell. He took it out of the box and then carefully held it up to his ear. A grin stretched across his face and he listened in awe as he heard the crashing sound of ocean waves mixed with the gentle fall of rain. He could easily imagine standing on a beach somewhere and listening to this wonderful sound. He had never been to a beach before, the Dursleys had left him with Mrs. Figg the one time they went, and he used to wonder what it was like. He loved it instantly, and his heart grew warm at the thought of Mia giving it to him. It has been pretty lonely without her in Privet Drive, and he missed her a lot. The Dursleys have been just as unbearable as usual, but he found some comfort in visiting her parents and Brian sometimes while she was away. Buying such a thoughtful birthday gift for him made him happy and he couldn't have asked for a better one…

Suddenly, the shell in Harry's hand started to glow a faint white color and he was so shocked he pulled it away from his ear and stared at it wide-eyed. He watched as the light slowly faded back into the shell, and after about a minute he realized his mouth was open. Blinking a few times, Harry's grin returned to his face, and he carefully placed the shell right next to him on his bedside table. He stared at it for a few more seconds before he turned his attention to his last letter, which had come from Hogwarts. Noticing that it was rather thicker than usual, Harry slit open the envelope, pulled out the first page of parchment within, and read:

_Dear Mr. Potter,_

_Please note that the new school year will begin on September the first. The Hogwarts Express will leave from King's Cross station, platform nine and three-quarters, at eleven o'clock._

_Third years are permitted to visit the village of Hogsmeade on certain weekends. Please give the enclosed permission form to your parent or guardian to sign._

_A list of books for next year is enclosed._

_Yours sincerely,_

_Professor M. McGonagall_

_Deputy Headmistress_

Harry reached inside the envelope and pulled out the Hogsmeade permission form, his smile wiped clean off his face. Harry knew that Hogsmeade was an all wizarding village just outside of the school grounds, and he had honestly been looking forward to going. But how on earth was he going to convince the Dursleys to sign the form? He looked over at the alarm clock on his table and saw that it was now two o'clock in the morning. Deciding that he'd worry about the Hogsmeade form when he woke up, Harry got back into bed and reached up to cross off another day on the chart he'd made for himself, counting down the days left until his return to Hogwarts. Then he took off her glasses and lay down, eyes open, facing his three birthday cards. Harry felt more grateful than ever to his friends, and he felt extremely lucky to have them.

"Thanks guys," he whispered before falling into a peaceful sleep.

**Read and review please!**


	2. Breakouts and Castles

**Hey everyone! I'm so very sorry it took me so long to update, I know it's not good to make excuses, but with everything that's going on with work, and school, things have been pretty crazy around here. I'm sorry to say that I cannot guarantee fast updates, but I promise you that I have no intentions of giving up this story. You think I came this far just to quit? I think not, haha! Anyway, here's chapter two, and I hope you all enjoy it. If there's any questions or comments, please just let me lnow. And please, please, please review! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: All things Harry Potter are not mine.**

Chapter Two: Breakouts and Castles

MPOV 

_**Sirius Black Escapes From Azkaban Prison!**_

_**As of early this morning, July 31**__**st**__**, 1993, infamous prisoner Sirius Black, imprisoned for twelve years on several accounts of murder, has broken out of the great island fortress of Azkaban. Daily Prophet Reporters are stunned at this exclamation, as Azkaban is supposed to be an inescapable institution, guards roaming the halls day and night, and the island isolated out in the middle of the sea. However, this impossible realization was confirmed as of this morning, when the guards were making their morning rounds and found Black's cell to be empty. A full-fledged search was made over the entire premises, yet Black was nowhere to be found, and authorities at the Ministry of Magic were notified immediately.**_

"_**We are doing everything within our power to recapture Black," says Cornelius Fudge, Minister of Magic. "We are pulling out every resource in the Ministry to hunt him down, as well as notifying the Muggle Prime Minister. Black is a deranged and dangerous man, and while I ask the Wizarding World to remain calm, I also stress the need to be cautious and to report anything if they catch sight of Black." **_

_**Sirius Black, a faithful follower in the days of You-Know-Who's reign, is considered a deadly and dangerous dark wizard, and the Ministry urges the public that if anyone should come across him, do not risk your safety by confrontation and contact Ministry officials immediately. For more on Black's escape, see pg. 9, where you will also see contact information…**_

Mia re-read the article from the Daily Prophet that had been published just a few days ago for what must have been the fifth time. The news of Sirius Black's escape from Azkaban was unbelievable, and she couldn't wrap her mind around it when she had first heard. Azkaban was supposed to be in-escapable, and for this man to accomplish the impossible astounded her. Black was supposedly a dangerous, high ranking criminal, and Mia knew that he must be a high valued prisoner, because Black was even on the Muggle newscast. Just below the article was a picture of Black, and if she didn't know any better, she would have thought she was staring at a corpse. Black's hair was matted and tangled, reaching down past his shoulders, his skin was pale and sunken in, reminding Mia of a vampire, and there was a dark look to his face, his grey eyes looking haunted and very nearly lifeless. The sight of him unnerved her, and she knew she definitely didn't want to face him alone on a deserted street. She and Hermione had talked about it almost the whole way home, worried and yet fascinated by this story. Black was sent to Azkaban for murdering thirteen people, and apparently was an old supporter of Voldemort. Mia instantly didn't like him, and the look of his eyes sent a shiver down her spine.

Mia sighed and then stuffed the article back in her bedside drawer, rolling onto her back and taking a nice stretch. She had come back home from France just the day before, and even though she had a wonderful time, she was happy to be home. Catherine had pulled her in for a suffocating hug before she even took three steps into the house, and she made Mia her favorite dinner in honor of her coming back home. She spent most of the night telling them all about the wonderful things that she and Hermione had experienced abroad, and she even presented them with gifts. She bought a blue and silver silk scarf, her father a few new ties for work, and she had given Brian a stuffed bear which he had latched onto instantly. He refused to part with it and carried it with him everywhere he went. He had decided to name it "Barnaby" for reasons unknown to Mia, but she didn't question it—she learned long ago that Brian wasn't a normal toddler.

Mia enjoyed being at home with her family, but what she really missed was hanging out with Harry. She was eager to go over his house to see if he liked his birthday present, but unfortunately, that wasn't going to happen. Mia couldn't help the grin that spread across her face or the giggle that escaped her mouth as she remembered the letter she had received from Ron on that very morning. She remembered falling onto her bed from laughing so hard at the news from her dear red-headed friend—apparently something had happened over at Harry's house while she was away, because one day when Mr. Weasley came home, he informed Ron and his siblings that a group of Ministry officials had to be sent out to Number Four to reverse a very powerful bit of magic. From what Ron had said, Harry had accidently blown up his Aunt Marge—literally _blow her up_—and she swelled to the size of a large balloon, bouncing off the ceiling by the time the Ministry officials had gotten there. Mia couldn't help but laugh when she heard that because she remembered Harry's Aunt Marge very well, and she knew that she had most likely gotten what she deserved. Mia had only met her once, and that was enough time for her to realize that Marge Dursley was a horrible and vile woman who lived to shower Dudley with gifts and praise while making harsh and rude comments about Harry. The last time she was at Privet Drive, she and Harry had been ten years old, and Marge Dursley had brought her bulldog, Ripper, with her. Mia remembered hearing constant barking and Harry calling for help. She had run over to see Harry sitting in a tree and Ripper growling and barking at him, keeping him trapped up there. Mia had grabbed some nearby rocks and threw them at the dog, making sure she didn't actually hit him, to scare him and have Harry climb back down. Harry's aunt had screamed at her for threatening her precious dog, but Mia sent back a snappy reply to her, knowing that if she hadn't have done anything, then Harry would have been stuck in that tree until past midnight.

Unfortunately, Mr. and Mrs. Dursley had tried forbidding Harry and Mia from seeing each other for a while after that, to which Mia had laughed. There was no way that she would let the Dursleys keep her away from her best friend. She and Harry kept playing together, but they were more careful about it, not wanting to upset his aunt and uncle further to a point where they would actually enforce their threat. Mia hated Marge Dursley more than Dudley and that was saying something. Whatever had set Harry off to blow her up, Mia was positive that she deserved it. However, Harry's little stunt had caused him to walk out on the Dursleys with all his things, and as far as Mia knew (her source coming from Ron of course), Harry was staying at the Leaky Cauldron in London for the rest of the holidays. At first Mia didn't like the idea of Harry being on his own, but then she remembered that he didn't have to stay at the Dursley's anymore for the rest of the summer, and she was happy that he could have a little freedom.

As it turned out, Ron's dad actually won the Grand Prize Galleon Draw, and he was currently with his family in Egypt for the next week, so he would be going school shopping on the day before they would be boarding the Hogwarts Express. Hermione and Mia agreed that they would all meet up with each other then and surprise Harry. Mia couldn't believe that summer was almost over already. Soon they would be going back to school for their third year. Sometimes she would get so excited she could hardly sit straight, and a wistful smile would come to her face every time she thought about it. Seeing the magnificent castle perched upon the cliff, visiting Hagrid in his home, taking a walk by the lake, studying in the library, and eating dinner in the Great Hall with the rest of the school. A soft sigh made its way through her. She really couldn't wait to go back…

"Mia!" Catherine's voice called from downstairs. "Mia love, can you come down for a moment?"

"Coming Mum!" Mia called, rolling herself into an upright position and standing up from her bed, which was littered with scraps of paper from her sketchpad. Once she was standing, she grabbed her sketchpad off of her desk, frowning when she realized she was almost out of paper. She stuffed it inside her rucksack along with her pencils and paints, planning on going to the park to spend some time drawing. When she has everything she needed, Mia made her way downstairs to the living room where Catherine was folding up the laundry, looking particularly frazzled. Her hair was starting to come out of her bun, and her face looked tired and sweaty. Mia wasn't surprised, it was pretty hot outside today, and Catherine had been cooped up in the house all day long doing the chores and trying to keep an eye on Brian, who seemed to be everywhere getting into everything he could find. One would think that toddlers started to behave a little more once they were out of their terrible twos—but they obviously haven't meet Mia's brother, who was carrying on into the terrible threes. So all in all, Catherine was exhausted, and her bloodshot eyes turned to Mia as she entered the room.

"Where are you off to today?" Catherine asked.

"I'm going to the park for a little while," Mia answered.

"Oh, that's perfect!" Catherine said, a relieved expression coming across her face. Could you do me a favor sweetheart? Could you take Brian to the park with you? Your father has some company from work coming over for dinner tonight, and I need to finish getting the house cleaned up."

"Do I have to?" Mia groaned, not wanting Brian to bombard her with questions on the way to and from the park. The litter bugger had gotten into that stage where he was constantly asking questions, and Mia often found herself hiding from him lately, as he seemed to want to be her talking shadow. He reminded her a lot of Colin Creveey and how he had stalked Harry last year.

"Yes, you do," said Catherine firmly, her tone leaving no room for argument. "It's only for a little while, I need him out from under my feet while I straighten up the house and start dinner. Please love, just do this one thing for me?"

"Fine," Mia sighed, inwardly groaning. She had really wanted to go to the park to work on her drawings, and she knew with Brian there she wouldn't get anything done. But then again, Catherine has been working endlessly all week long, she deserved some rest. It was extra strenuous because ever since last summer, Brian has been showing more signs of accidental magic. Last week Ben had told her how Brian nearly gave Catherine a heart attack by starting to climb up a tree and bouncing off the ground when he fell. Hearing that made Mia smile because she had done the exact same thing when she was his age. And when the summer holidays first started, Catherine had been giving Brian a bath, and when Mia walked in, Brian's face lit up and all the bubbles in the tub had suddenly turned a lovely shade of blue, as if he were trying to make them match her eyes. And there were other times when he used his magic to cause mischief, such as the time when Mia had come home to find her pastel paints moving of their own accord across one of her drawings while Brian was standing in front of it waving his arms, as if he were conducting an orchestra. More incidents like this was becoming more frequent, and it was driving Mia and her parents mad. She really pitied the Hogwarts teachers when Brian finally comes walking through the doors.

Five minutes later, Mia was walking down the street with an over-excited Brian at her heels, chatting up a storm. As they walked, Brian asked Mia about a thousand and one questions, all ranging from "Mia, why is the sky blue?" to "Mia, why does Father Christmas come once a year?" She had to hand it to him, Brian was very curious and absorbed knowledge like a sponge. She found that talking with Brian wasn't as bad as she thought, and as they got closer to the store, Brian started asking a whole new round of questions.

"Mia, what's Hoggywarts like?" he asked.

"You mean Hogwarts?" Mia said.

"Yeah!" Brian said, his eyes lighting up. "Wat's it like? Do you gets to use your wand there? Are there monsters? Are da witches there ugly or pwetty like you?"

A small smile came across Mia's face. Brian really was adorable when he wanted to be.

"It's a wonderful and completely magical place," Mia said, trying to put it in a way that Brian would understand. "You know the castle in Cinderella?"

"Mmhmm," Brian answered, nodding eagerly.

"Well, Hogwarts is better," Mia stated. "It's very big, with lots of stairs, and windows. There's pictures all over the walls, and brave knights that protect it.

"Do dey fight Dwagons?" Brian asked.

"There are no Dragons at Hogwarts," Mia replied. _Well, except for Norbert. _"But if there were, the knights would fight them. At night there's stars on the ceiling in the dining hall, and there's ghosts there too."

"Weally?" said Brian, his eyes going wide in absolute awe. "Weal ghosts?"

"Yup. There's Sir Nick, he's very friendly, and he always likes to help people. And the Fat Friar, he's nice too, and there's Peeves—he's not really a ghost, and he's a bit of a troublemaker—"

"I like him," Brian said instantly, a grin spreading across his face. Mia rolled her eyes fondly. Of course he would.

"Are da teachers nice?" said Brian.

"Most of them," Mia answered. "There's Professor McGonagall, she can turn into a cat."

"A cat? Like Sapphire?"

"Uh-huh," said Mia. "Professor Sprout teaches us about flowers, Flitwick teaches us to make things fly, and Snape is just a git—"

"Git? What's a git?" said Brian.

"Uh—it's nothing!" Mia said quickly. "Don't tell Mum I said that, okay?"

"You said a bad word!" Brian said gleefully, his eyes twinkling with mischief. "I'm gonna tell Mummy!"

"Oh really?" said Mia, lifting an eyebrow. "If you do, I'll send the tickle monster after you!"

"I'm not scawed of da tickle monster," Brian said. Mia just grinned and then she stooped down and pulled Brian into her arms. The little boy squealed and tried to fight her off but he kept a tight hold of him as she attacked his sides. Brian shrieked with laughter and tried pushing himself away from his sister to no avail. After about a minute of tickling him, Mia finally stopped and hitched Brian onto her hip. Brian kept giggling as they continued on walking and in next to no time, they were finally at the park. There were a small group of people parents there with their children, and as soon as Mia set Brian down on the ground, he immediately took off for the slide where some of the other kids were. Mia smiled as she watched Brian walk up to a little blonde-haired boy and started talking to him. Glad that her brother had some kids to play with, Mia sat down on one of the benches that was in the perfect position for her to keep an eye on Brian and for her to be in his line of vision if he should need anything. Once she was seated, she took out her sketchpad from her bag and turned to a fresh clean page. She took a minute to stare at it, trying to figure out what she wanted to draw. Her mind drifted to the conversation she and Brian were having on their way to the park and she smiled, an idea coming to her head. She dug around for her pencils and pastel crayons and started working. Over the past couple years, Mia has gotten better and better with her drawings and paintings. Her childish scribbles were actually turning into more defined lines, and her little square houses were becoming stone and wooden structures. Half of her sketchpad was filled with the things she saw in France, while the other half consisted of the things she loved about Hogwarts. The lake, the Whomping Willow, the school owls, the Quidditch Pitch, and of course, the magnificent castle that was her second home…

"Mia?"

Mia turned at the sound of her name, and her eyes widened in surprise as she caught sight of an elderly woman wearing a green and white dress, her white hair pulled into a ponytail and her grey eyes twinkling.

"Mrs. Brugger?" Mia said, smiling. "What are you doing here?"

Mrs. Brugger was a kind old lady who lived about ten minutes away from Mia. She was known as the "Old Witch" by the other kids in the neighborhood, which Mia thought was ridiculous—there was nothing even remotely dangerous about Agatha Brugger. Mia had met her only last summer, when she walked Mrs. Brugger home when she got caught in the rain with her groceries.

"Oh, I'm here with my grandson," Mrs. Brugger replied, pointing over to the blonde haired boy that Brian was playing with. "Darren—he's been asking me to bring him here all week. What are you doing here dear?"

"I'm here with my brother," Mia said. "He's the one playing with Darren."

"My, isn't he the cutest little thing?" Mrs. Brugger commented with a smile.

"That's just a show," Mia said with a smirk. "He's an evil genius."

Mrs. Brugger gave a chuckle as she sat down next to Mia on the bench.

"How have you been dearie? I haven't seen you since last summer."

"I've been away at school," Mia explained. "I go to a boarding school for most of the year."

"Anywhere that I know?" asked Mrs. Brugger.

"Probably not," Mia answered. "It's in Scotland."

"Oh," said Mrs. Brugger, her kind eyes crinkling in a smile. "I've certainly missed talking to you dear. I was hoping to run into you again."

"I've been on vacation with my friend," said Mia. "We went to France."

"France!" Mrs. Brugger said in a wistful voice, her eyes glazing over, as if she were lost in a memory. "These old eyes haven't seen the beautiful country of France for so very long. So many memories…I met my dear husband, Robert, there, at a dinner party held in a grand castle, on the banks of the lake. We had danced all night in the courtyard…so lovely. Did you and your friend have fun?"

"We did," Mia said. "Hermione and I had a great time there."

"Hermione? That is her name? It's a pretty name, so Shakespearian. Tell me, what did you do while you were there?"

And so Mia and Mrs. Brugger spent the next hour or so talking and catching up with one another with what has been going on for the past year. Obviously Mia couldn't tell her about Hogwarts or the disastrous events that had happened this past year, so she kept it nice and simple, replacing certain wizard terms with Muggle ones, such as referring Potions to "science," and Quidditch to "soccer." Mia listened intently as Mrs. Brugger told her some of the stories of her and her late husband Robert, some of them so romantic that Mia wanted to swoon, and others so funny she couldn't help but burst into a fit of giggles. Every once in a while Mia would glance over to check up on Brian, and she was happy to see that he was still playing with Darren. Time seemed to fly by, and Mia was actually enjoying Mrs. Brugger's company very much. After talking about Robert's attempt to sing at a karaoke bar, Mrs. Brugger glanced down at the sketchpad in Mia's lap.

"You like to draw?" she asked.

"Oh," Mia said, now realizing that she had forgotten all about her picture. "Yes, I love to draw, and to paint…I've been doing it ever since I was little."

"That's a wonderful talent to have," Mrs. Brugger said, her eyes twinkling again. "Are you drawing something that you saw in France?"

"No, it's just something I made up myself," Mia lied, trying to keep eye contact. Mrs. Brugger smiled at her, and Mia smiled back before looking down at her watch.

"Oh no," Mia said, a little sadly. "It's almost twelve—I've got to get Brian home for lunch. I'm sorry Mrs. Brugger, I have to go. I wish I could stay."

"Me too dear," said Mrs. Brugger. The elder woman's eyebrows furrowed for a moment and she appeared to be in deep thought. She was silent for a few seconds before she spoke.

"Mia dear, how would you like to make a little money this summer?" Mrs. Brugger asked.

"What do you mean?" said Mia.

"Well, remember when I told you that my old house needed some sprucing up? Unfortunately I'm not as young as I used to be, and I can't do it all by myself. My son always says he'll come by, but he hasn't had the time and—well, I was just wondering if you'd like to help out. You'd have to ask your parents of course, and you would have to come over a few times a week, or whenever you can manage. I'd say maybe ten pounds a week would be enough?"

"Really?" said Mia, her eyes wide. "I don't know Mrs. Brugger, I wouldn't want to bother you—"

"You wouldn't be bothering me dear," Mrs. Brugger assured her. "In fact I think you'd be a great help. It would be nice to have some company again…so what do you say?"

"That would be great!" Mia said. "I'd be happy to help!"

"That's wonderful. Is Monday I good day to start?"

"Sure, I'll ask my parents," Mia replied, putting her sketchpad back inside her bag and standing up from the bench. "Thank you so very much Mrs. Brugger—I promise I'll work very hard."

"I'm sure you will dear," Mrs. Brugger said. "And remember, it's Aggie. Just out of curiosity, what were you drawing a picture of?"

"Oh, a castle—I was drawing a castle."

HPOV

_Three weeks later…_

Harry woke up on the last day of the summer holidays feeling refreshed and excited. He wasn't exactly sure what time it was, but he didn't really care. He was enjoying his Dursley-free vacation as much as possible, and he certainly took advantage of it. For the last couple of weeks, Harry had eaten whatever he wanted, got up whenever he please, and wandered around on his own, although it was only in Diagon Alley. After he blew up his Aunt Marge, Harry had run into Cornelius Fudge, the Minister of Magic, at the Leaky Cauldron, and he was positive that he was going to be expelled. But, miraculously, Fudge simply waved away the entire situation and Harry wasn't punished at all. He had arranged for Harry to spend the rest of the holidays at the Leaky Cauldron, and he made Harry promise that he wouldn't stay into Muggle London—not that Harry would want to anyway. He had been enjoying himself immensely, looking at all the wonderful shops and sitting out in the sun, finishing his homework. He bought all his school supplies within the first couple days, and the rest of the time was spent looking for Ron, Hermione and Mia. He wasn't too sure if they had bought all of their things yet, so he had been keeping an eye out for them every day since he arrived. He ran into other students from school, such as Dean Thomas and Neville Longbottom, although he didn't too much time to stay and chat.

Harry yawned and stood up from bed, taking a nice long stretch. Staring out the window, he saw that it was a gorgeous morning, and he thought a good breakfast and a trip down to Quality Quidditch Supplies was a good way to start the day. There was a new racing broom out on the market that Harry has dropped by to see every day—the Firebolt. It was an international standard broom, and it was the very definition of perfect, with its gleaming handle, smooth tail and golden title carved in the front. Harry had never wanted anything more in his whole life, but he knew that such a superb broom would probably cost him his entire fortune at Gringotts. Besides, he already had a good broom, what was the point in getting another one? Once he cleaned himself up and got dressed, he made his way downstairs to grab a quick bowl of porridge with some toast and juice before heading out into the back courtyard to open up the gateway into the alley. He went over to Quality Quidditch Supplies for a nice long look at the Firebolt, along with a huge crowd of onlookers who were pressed up against the glass. How long he stood there, he didn't know, and he was so absorbed in the sheer beauty of the Firebolt that he didn't notice when someone walked up behind him.

"How did I know I would find you standing outside drooling over a broom?" came an amused laugh.

"Mia!" Harry exclaimed, snapping out of his thoughts instantly and spinning around to see her standing behind him, her arms crossed over her chest and shaking her head at him. He barely even gave her time to say hello before he wrapped her up in a fierce hug, making her squeak in surprise.

"I'm guessing that you missed me?" she giggled, hugging him back.

"Definitely," Harry said, grinning as he released her. "This summer was awful without you. How was France? When did you get back?"

"It was great, there's so much I want to tell you! And Hermione's parents took lots of pictures, we brought them with us to show you. And we got back a few days after your birthday, I was going to come visit you but you were already gone. Me, Ron and Hermione got here not too long ago."

"Where are they?" asked Harry, looking around for his two other best friends.

"They're at Florean Fortescue's Ice Cream Parlor," Mia answered, taking his hand. "Come on."

Harry followed Mia through the crowd and back up the alley towards the ice-cream parlor, where, sure enough, Ron and Hermione were sitting at one of the tables under a colorful umbrella, waving madly at them as they approached, slurping their own ice-creams.

"Finally!" said Ron, grinning at Harry as he and Mia sat down at the table. "We went to the Leaky Cauldron, but they said you'd left, and we went to Flourish and Blotts, and Madam Malkin's, and—"

"I got all my school stuff last week," Harry explained. "And how come you knew I'm staying at the Leaky Cauldron?"

"Dad," said Ron simply. Harry nodded. Mr. Weasley worked at the Ministry of Magic, and Harry was sure that he would have heard about what happened to Aunt Marge.

"Did you really blow up your aunt, Harry?" said Hermione in a very serious voice.

"I didn't mean to blow her up," Harry said as Ron and Mia burst out laughing. "I just...lost control."

"Brilliant!" said Ron, grinning.

"Honestly Ron, it's not funny!" Hermione snapped.

"Yes it is," Mia giggled, pushing some of her ice-cream over to Harry so he could have some. "I wish I was there to see it."

"This isn't something to laugh about Mia," Hermione said.

"You don't know her Mione, she probably deserved it, right Harry?" said Mia. Harry nodded vigorously, his mouth too full of chocolate and peppermint ice-cream to speak.

"That's not the point though! Harry was lucky not to be expelled," Hermione said crossly.

"Forget expelled, I thought I was going to be arrested," Harry admitted.

"I still think it's brilliant." Ron chortled.

"Your dad doesn't know why Fudge let me off, does he?" Harry asked him.

"Probably 'cause it's you, isn't it?" shrugged Ron, still chuckling. "Famous Harry Potter and all that. I'd hate to see what the Ministry'd do to _me_ if I blew up an aunt. Mind you, they'd have to dig me up first, because Mum would've killed me. Anyway, you can ask Dad yourself this evening—we're staying at the Leaky Cauldron tonight too! So you can come to King's Cross with us tomorrow! Hermione and Mia are there as well!"

"Mum and Dad dropped me off this morning with all my Hogwarts things," Hermione beamed.

"Excellent!" said Harry happily. "So, have you got all your new books and stuff?"

"Look at this," said Ron, pulling a long thin box out of a bag and opening it. "Brand-new wand. Fourteen inches, willow, containing one unicorn tail-hair. And we've got all our books, too. What about those Monster Books, eh? The assistant nearly cried when we said we wanted three."

"I'm guessing they're for our Care of Magical Creatures class," Mia said. "Can't think of any other reason why we'd need a book about monsters."

"What's all that, Hermione?" Harry asked, pointing at not one but three bulging bags in the chair next to her.

"Well, I'm taking more new subjects than you, aren't I," said Hermione. "Those are my books for Arithmancy, Care of Magical Creatures, Divination, the Study of Ancient Runes, Muggle Studies—"

"What are you doing Muggle Studies for?" said Ron, rolling his eyes at Harry. "You're Muggle-born! Your mum and dad are Muggles! You already know all about Muggles!"

"But Ron, it'll be _fascinating _to learn it from the wizarding point of view," gushed Mia playfully as she grinned at Hermione. "Right, Hermione?"

Hermione rolled her eyes at her and went rummaging around in her purse.

"I've still got ten Galleons," she said. "It's my birthday in September, and Mum and Dad gave me some money to get myself an early birthday present."

"How about a nice book?" asked Ron innocently, making Mia giggle softly.

"No, I don't think so," said Hermione composedly. "I really want an owl. I mean, Harry's got Hedwig and you've got Errol—"

"I haven't," said Ron. "Errol's a family owl. All I've got is Scabbers."

Ron reached into his side pocket and pulled out his pet rat, Scabbers, Ron has had Scabbers for as long as Harry had known him, Ron's older brother Percy used to own him, but then gave him to Ron after his parents bought him a new owl.

"And I want to get him checked over," Ron added, placing Scabbers on the table in front of them. "I don't think Egypt agreed with him."

Harry had to agree. Scabbers was usually very fat and was always sniffing around for food, however, now he was looking much thinner, and there was a definite droop to his whiskers.

"He looks a little ill," Mia commented as she leaned in closer to get a better look at him. "Do you think maybe he ate something that was bad for him?"

"Not sure," Ron replied. "I fed him some of whatever I ate, but I suppose he could've gotten into something."

"There's a magical creature shop just over there," said Harry, pointing. "You could see if they've got anything for Scabbers, and Hermione can get her owl."

"Actually, why don't you guys go ahead," said Mia, who also was checking her purse. "There's one shop I want to go to before we head on back to the Leaky Cauldron. I can meet up with you guys at the Magical Menagerie when I'm done."

"Where are you going?" asked Harry.

"Scribbulus Writing Instruments," Mia answered. "There's just a couple things I need to pick up."

"Would you mind if I come along?" said Harry. "There's some things I might need—"

"You just want to come so you can have one last look at the Firebolt," Mia said, grinning. Harry smiled back sheepishly at her. Scribbulus Writing Instruments was only a few stores away from Quality Quidditch Supplies, and he had been hoping to get another glance at the Firebolt. Mia laughed at him before agreeing for him to go along with her while Ron and Hermione went off to the Magical Menagerie for their pets.

"What do you need to get at Scribbulus?" asked Harry.

"Nothing," Mia answered simply, smiling. "It was just to get away from Hermione—I haven't gotten her anything for her birthday yet, and I saw something that I think she would like."

"What is it?"

"They have a special new quill at Scribbulus that leaves a flowery scent on the parchment as you write," said Mia. "I think she would really like it."

Harry nodded, and at the same time, he noticed something—there was a sweet scent that was very close by, and as he inhaled it, he realized it was coming from Mia.

"What are you wearing?" he said abruptly.

"What do you mean?" Mia asked in confusion.

"I smell something…like a flower," Harry said. To his surprise, Mia face went a little red.

"Hermione and I bought some perfume and lotion in Paris," she said, not meeting his eyes. "Mine's called Midnight Cherry Blossom…does it smell bad?"

"No," said Harry. "It smells sweet."

He couldn't help but grin and chuckle a little as Mia's face grew even more red, and she changed the subject by pointing out that they were finally at Scribbulus'. They easily found the quills that Mia was looking for inside, and she got excited when they found a quill with a rose scent, because apparently, it was Hermione's favorite flower. After paying for two of them, Harry and Mia turned to walk back outside and then they saw Ron dashing past the open door, looking frantic.

"Scabbers!" he called. "Scabbers, come back!"

"Don't tell me he lost Scabbers again," said Mia.

"It looks like it," said Harry. "Come on."

Harry and Mia quickly went after Ron, carefully moving through the crowd so as not to run into anybody. Eventually they found him on his hands and knees, reaching under a wastepaper basket and pulling a terrified Scabbers out by his tail.

"Ron, what happened?" asked Mia.

"We were at the Menagerie, and I was about to pay for some rat tonic when this giant cat came out of nowhere and landed on top of my head!" said Ron. "It started hissing and then went after Scabbers! I lost my grip on him and then he ran, so I had to follow him out here."

"Is he all right?"

"I think so," Ron said, carefully checking over Scabbers before placing him back inside his pocket.

"Where's Hermione?" said Harry, realizing she was not there.

"Probably getting her owl," said Mia. "We should go back and find her."

The three of them turned back around and started going back to the Menagerie to find Hermione. When they reached it, they saw her leaving the shop, but she wasn't carrying an owl. Wrapped up in Hermione's arms was a large, furry ginger cat.

"You _bought_ that monster?" said Ron, his mouth hanging open. Harry assumed by Ron's reaction that this was the cat that had landed on his head.

"He's gorgeous, isn't he?" said Hermione, glowing.

_That's a matter of opinion,_ thought Harry. The cat's ginger fur was thick and fluffy, but it was definitely a bit bowlegged and its face looked grumpy and oddly squashed, as though it had run headlong into a brick wall. However, Mia didn't seem to think so, because she instantly walked forward and started to pet the cat, which purred instantly at her touch.

"Awww, he's adorable!" Mia cooed. "Now Sapphire can have a playmate."

"Hermione, that thing nearly scalped me!" said Ron.

"He didn't mean to, did you, Crookshanks?" said Hermione.

"And what about Scabbers?" said Ron, pointing at the lump in his chest pocket. "He needs rest and relaxation! How's he going to get it with that thing around?"

"That reminds me, you forgot your rat tonic," said Hermione, slapping a small red bottle into Ron's hand. "And stop worrying, Crookshanks will be sleeping in my dormitory and Scabbers in yours, what's the problem? And besides, you have no problem with Sapphire being around Scabbers.

"That doesn't mean Sapphire doesn't like him," Harry pointed out.

"And now I'm going to have two bloody cats going after my rat!" Ron said.

"I told you Ron, he'll be staying in our dorm anyway," Hermione snapped before turning back to her cat. "Poor Crookshanks, that witch said he'd been in there for ages—no one wanted him."

"Wonder why," said Ron sarcastically as they all set off toward the Leaky Cauldron.

**Read and review please!**


	3. The Guards of Azkaban

**Hi there everyone! I feel bad about having you all wait for so long for the last chapter, so I wanted to give you another one, and I made it a little longer than normal as a special treat. I really hope you all like it, I think it might be one of my best yet. A very important character is introduced in this chapter, and I'm excited for you guys to read it! Please review, tell me what you think about it, and any comments, questions, or concerns, please let me know! I hope you guys like it, enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: All things Harry Potter are not mine. **

Chapter Three: The Guards of Azkaban

HPOV 

When they had returned after their shopping, Harry was greeted warmly by Mr. Weasley and hugged by Mrs. Weasley. Ginny, who was still rather shy around him, offered a soft "Hello," although she visibly brightened when Mia came over to give her a hug. Percy was there as well, and he shook Harry's hand formally while Fred and George, the famous prankster twins, sandwiched Mia in a fierce hug. Once they all had exchanged greetings and hugs, Harry, Ron, Hermione and Mia all went upstairs to dump all their stuff inside their rooms and to pack. Harry would be staying in his own room while Ron shared with Percy, and Mia would be sharing with Hermione and Ginny for the night. When they entered the girl's room, Harry saw Mia's cat, Sapphire jump down from her perch on the windowsill and stride over to him, purring loudly as she rubbed herself against his leg. However, her attention was immediately diverted as Hermione placed Crookshanks down on the floor next to her. All four of them looked on as the two cats stared each other down, curiously taking in each other's appearance. Sapphire made her way forward and delicately sniffed around Crookshanks' face. After another moment of staring, both cats turned away from each other, with Sapphire going over to Mia and Crookshanks hopping up on one of the beds, both clearly not too interested in each other at the moment.

"Well, that was dramatic," Mia said bluntly, causing Harry to laugh. "Crookshanks must not be her type."

"They haven't gotten to know each other yet," said Hermione. "Imagine if they did like each other—they could have kittens!"

"And create little furry mutants?" said Ron. "You're joking, right?"

After they were all settled and packed for the following day, Harry and the others spent a little while talking and catching up. He listened in fascination as Ron told him about his time in Egypt and Hermione and Mia told their stories of what they did in France. They even showed them the pictures they had taken, and Harry had laughed at the one where the girls were at the beach, with a very tan Hermione standing next to an extremely burnt Mia.

"Did you like your birthday gifts Harry?" Hermione asked.

"I loved them," Harry answered, grinning. "Thanks a lot guys."

"Sorry I couldn't get you anything better mate," Ron said. "Most of the money went on the trip."

"Don't worry about it," Harry said, waving it off. "You guys had perfect timing."

"Hedwig had perfect timing," Mia corrected him, staring fondly at the owl as she rested on the chair sitting by the window. "If she hadn't turned up, I don't know if we would've been able to get your presents to you on time."

"By the way, thanks for the chocolate," Ron said, happily patting his stomach. "That was excellent."

"What better present is there to make you happy than food?" Mia said, smirking.

They all stayed upstairs until they heard Mrs. Weasley knock on the door, announcing that it was time for dinner. Tom the innkeeper had pushed three tables together in order to fit everyone, and then they all dug into a delicious five course meal. By the time dessert had arrived, Harry wasn't sure he could eat another bite, but after looking at the chocolate pudding, he figured one more bite wouldn't hurt.

"How're we getting to King's Cross tomorrow, Dad?" asked Fred.

"The Ministry's providing a couple of cars," said Mr. Weasley.

"Why?" said Percy curiously.

"It's because of you, Perce," said George seriously. "And there'll be little flags on the hoods, with HB on them—"

"—for Humongous Bighead," said Fred.

Everyone except Percy and Mrs. Weasley snorted into their pudding, and Harry could see Mia out of the corner of his eye, hiding behind Hermione to hide her laughter.

"Why are the Ministry providing cars, Father?" Percy asked again in a dignified voice.

"Well, as we haven't got one anymore, and as I work there, they're doing me a favor," Mr. Weasley replied. His voice was casual, but Harry couldn't help noticing that Mr. Wesley's ears had gone red, just like Ron's did when he was under pressure.

"Good thing, too," said Mrs. Weasley. "Do you realize how much luggage you've all got between you? A nice sight you'd be on the Muggle Underground…you are all packed, aren't you?"

"Ron hasn't put all his new things in his trunk yet," said Percy in a long-suffering voice. "He's dumped them on my bed."

"You'd better go and pack properly, Ron, because we won't have much time in the morning," Mrs. Weasley called down the table. Ron scowled at Percy.

"Oh Harry, guess what?" Mia said, looking over at him with an excited smile. "Do you remember last summer when I told you about Mrs. Brugger?"

"You mean the Old Witch of Fountain Street?"

"Harry—"

"I'm kidding," Harry said quickly as Mia narrowed her eyes. "What about her?"

"I ran into her again a few weeks ago," Mia continued. "While I was at the park with Brian—she offered me a job. Well, sort of."

"Really?" asked Harry, interested. "Doing what?"

"Things around the house mostly," Mia answered, taking another mouthful of her pudding. "Straightening out the living room, dusting, throwing things in the trash, that sort of thing. It's what I've been doing all month, she's paying me ten pounds a week."

"Is that a lot in Muggle money?" Ron asked them.

"It's a fair amount," Mia replied. "I couldn't do very much since it was the first week of August, but she says I can keep working next summer or during the Christmas holidays when I'm home if I want to. I'm saving it so I can buy things in Hogsmeade this year, I'm so excited! Won't it be great going there, getting out of the castle every once in a while?"

Harry's mood instantly fell a little at the mention of Hogsmeade, but before he could even answer, Mrs. Weasley announced that it was time for bed. Too full and tired to argue, everyone got up from the table and started making their way upstairs to their own rooms. Harry went into his room to make sure that he had everything ready for the train ride tomorrow. Hedwig was still out hunting, but he wasn't worried about her—he knew she would be back by morning. He doubled checked everything in his trunk, making sure he had his robes, Muggle clothes, equipment, books, and of course, his Nimbus 2000. Once he had everything set and ready to go, he shut the lid on his trunk and just as he was about to get dressed for bed, he suddenly heard loud, angry voices coming from Ron and Percy's room next door. Wondering what was going on, Harry walked out of his room to see what the commotion was all about. The door of number twelve was ajar and Harry pushed it open to see that Percy was shouting.

"It was here, on the bedside table, I took it off for polishing—"

"I haven't touched it, all right?!" Ron roared back.

"What's up?" said Harry.

"My Head Boy badge is gone!" said Percy.

"So is Scabbers' Rat Tonic," said Ron, throwing things out of his trunk to look. "I think I might've left it in the bar —"

"You're not going anywhere till you've found my badge!" yelled Percy.

"What is with all the yelling?"

Harry turned around to see Mia standing in the doorway, dressed in her blue pajamas and fuzzy white slippers, her hair in a braid and a scowl on her face.

"Seriously, you two are going to wake up the whole pub," Mia said. "What is going on?"

"Percy lost his stupid badge, and I think I left Scabbers' rat tonic downstairs," said Ron.

"I'll get Scabbers' stuff, I'm packed," Harry told him.

"I'll come with you," Mia added. "Hermione can't find Crookshanks in the room, I told her that I'd check downstairs."

So Harry and Mia walked back downstairs to find Crookshanks and the rat tonic. They were halfway along the passage to the bar, which was now very dark, when they heard another pair of angry voices coming from the parlor. As they came closer, Harry realized that it was Mr. and Mrs. Weasley talking. Mia must have realized this as well, because she instantly started to back up.

"We shouldn't eavesdrop," she whispered to him. Harry was about to agree with her when the sound of his own name made him stop and he inched closer to the door.

"Harry," Mia groaned, grabbing his wrist and trying to pull him away. "We can't—"

"Shh," Harry said, pulling her next to him and motioning for her to be quiet as he listened to what was going on, on the other side of the door.

"…makes no sense not to tell him," Mr. Weasley was saying heatedly. "Harry's got a right to know. I've tried to tell Fudge, but he insists on treating Harry like a child. He's thirteen years old and—"

"Arthur, the truth would terrify him!" said Mrs. Weasley shrilly. "Do you really want to send Harry back to school with that hanging over him? For heaven's sake, he's _happy_ not knowing!"

"I don't want to make him miserable, I want to put him on his guard!" retorted Mr. Weasley. "You know what Harry and Ron are like, wandering off by themselves—they've ended up in the Forbidden Forest twice! But Harry mustn't do that this year! When I think what could have happened to him that night he ran away from home! If the Knight Bus hadn't picked him up, I'm prepared to bet he would have been dead before the Ministry found him."

"But he's not dead, he's fine, so what's the point—"

"Molly, they say Sirius Black's mad, and maybe he is, but he was clever enough to escape from Azkaban, and that's supposed to be impossible. It's been three weeks, and no one's seen hide nor hair of him, and I don't care what Fudge keeps telling the Daily Prophet, we're no nearer catching Black than inventing self-spelling wands. The only thing we know for sure is what Black's after—"

"But Harry will be perfectly safe at Hogwarts."

"We thought Azkaban was perfectly safe. If Black can break out of Azkaban, he can break into Hogwarts."

"But no one's really sure that Black's after Harry—"

There was a thud on wood, and Harry was sure Mr. Weasley had banged his fist on the table.

"Molly, how many times do I have to tell you? They didn't report it in the press because Fudge wanted it kept quiet, but Fudge went out to Azkaban the night Black escaped. The guards told Fudge that Blacks been talking in his sleep for a while now. Always the same words: _'He's at Hogwarts…he's at Hogwarts.' _Black is deranged, Molly, and he wants Harry dead. If you ask me, he thinks murdering Harry will bring You-Know-Who back to power. Black lost everything the night Harry stopped You-Know-Who, and he's had twelve years alone in Azkaban to brood on that…"

There was a moment of silence, and Harry looked over at Mia, She had gone slightly pale, and her eyes had widened drastically. Harry also noticed that her grip on his wrist had tightened considerably.

"Well, Arthur, you must do what you think is right," said Mrs. Weasley. "But you're forgetting Albus Dumbledore. I don't think anything could hurt Harry at Hogwarts while Dumbledore's Headmaster. I suppose he knows about all this?"

"Of course he knows. We had to ask him if he minds the Azkaban guards stationing themselves around the entrances to the school grounds. He wasn't happy about it, but he agreed."

"Not happy? Why shouldn't he be happy, if they're there to catch Black?"

"Dumbledore isn't fond of the Azkaban guards," said Mr. Weasley heavily. "Nor am I, if it comes to that…but when you're dealing with a wizard like Black, you sometimes have to join forces with those you'd rather avoid."

"If they save Harry—"

"–then I will never say another word against them," said Mr. Weasley wearily. "It's late, Molly, we'd better go up…"

Harry and Mia both moved quickly away from the parlor door and crouched down quietly in the shadows and out of sight. The parlor door opened and Mr. and Mrs. Weasley walked through, both looking tired, and heading towards the stairs. They waited until the sound of footsteps had disappeared before standing upright again. Looking over, Harry saw that the bottle of rat tonic was lying under the table they had sat at earlier. He walked over and grabbed the bottle up from the floor before turning to face Mia.

"Harry," she whispered, looking worried. "Do you think what they said is true? Do you think Sirius Black broke out to—to kill you?"

"It sounds that way," Harry answered softly. "I think that's why Fudge let me off so easy and made me promise to stay in Diagon Alley."

"And I bet you're going to be watched like a hawk at school too," Mia said, biting her lip. "Why does this stuff always happen to you?"

Harry walked back over to her and placed a comforting hand on her shoulder.

"Everything will be fine Mia," he said. "We've always managed to make it through bad situations haven't we?"

"Yes, with you nearly getting killed in the process every time," Mia said in a hard voice, glaring down at the floor. "Do you think that we'll ever get to have a normal year?"

"With my luck, probably not," Harry replied with a smile, trying to cheer her up. It seemed to work, because Mia gave him a small smile, and at that moment they both heard a soft purring by their feet, and they looked down to see Crookshanks staring up at the two of them, flicking his tail back and forth. Mia sighed as she bent down and picked up the fluffy cat into her arms.

"Come on you," she said to him, patting his head. "Hermione's looking for you."

Without another word, Harry and Mia both walked through the passage past the bar and went back upstairs.

MPOV

Mia was awoken the next morning by Mrs. Weasley gently shaking her shoulder, whispering for her to get changed for breakfast. Mia mumbled her thanks and rolled over in bed, staring up at the ceiling, her mind going over the conversation that she and Harry had heard the previous night.

Sirius Black was after Harry—the mere thought of it made Mia's stomach churn. A mass murderer who was a supporter of Voldemort was out to kill her best friend…Harry just couldn't get a break, could he? Something bad always seemed to be happening to him, and now with Black on the loose, Mia doubted that Harry was going to have any sort of freedom this year. She wouldn't even be surprised if Hogwarts somehow didn't allow Harry to go to Hogsmeade until Black was caught and back in Azkaban. Mia sighed in frustration, rubbing at her tired eyes. She hated the fact that someone was always out to get Harry, but she also knew that she wasn't going to let it happen. Murderer or not, Mia wasn't going to let Black lay a finger on him as long as she was around, and even if he did somehow find Harry, if he was stupid enough to try and harm him, she would make him wish he was back in Azkaban.

Mia was brought out of her thoughts by the sound of Hermione and Ginny getting out of their own beds. Mia knew that Hermione should probably know about this, but she wanted to wait until they were along with Harry and Ron, so he could tell them himself. All three girls got dressed and then headed down to breakfast, where they saw plates of eggs, bacon and toast waiting for them, along with glasses of orange juice. While they ate, Mrs. Weasley sat down next to them and leaned in to tell them about a love potion that she once made.

"It wasn't too difficult," Mrs. Weasley was telling them. "I made it so that this horrid girl in my year, Marsha Hunter, would fall head over heels for the old gamekeeper, Ogg—she made a fool of herself, following him like a lost puppy and declaring her love for him in the Great Hall."

"What did she do that was so awful?" asked Mia. Mrs. Weasley glanced over at Mr. Weasley, who was reading the Daily Prophet, and they immediately understood. They broke out into a fit of giggles just as Harry and the boys came down from upstairs.

After everyone was finished eating, they all went back up to their rooms for their trunks and bumped into each other on the way back down, piling everything by the door, with Hedwig and Hermes, Percy's screech owl, perched on top in their cages. A small wickerwork basket stood beside the heap of trunks, spitting loudly.

"It's all right, Crookshanks," Hermione cooed through the wickerwork. "I'll let you out on the train."

"You won't," snapped Ron. "What about poor Scabbers, eh? It's bad enough Mia lets Sapphire out."

"Don't worry Ron, I never let her do anything to Scabbers," Mia said, rolling her eyes. Ron didn't look too convinced though, and he checked his shirt pocket to make sure that Scabbers was all right.

"The cars are here," Mr. Weasley said, sticking his head in through the door. "Harry, come on."

There were two old fashioned green cars parked outside against the sidewalk, each one driven by a wizard in a suit of emerald velvet. Mr. Weasley ushered Harry inside, along with Mia, Ron, and Percy. Once all their luggage had been placed into the trunk of the car (Hedwig, Crookshanks, Sapphire and Hermes sat on their owner's laps), they set off for King's Cross Station, the Ministry cars moving smoothly through the city traffic. Before they knew it, they made it to the station with twenty minutes to spare. The Ministry drivers found them trolleys, unloaded their trunks, touched their hats in salute to Mr. Weasley, and drove away. Mia placed Sapphire on top of her trunk and soothed her when she started meowing in discomfort.

"Do you really think the Ministry provided cars just because they owe Mr. Weasley?" Hermione asked.

"I know they didn't," Mia whispered back, causing Hermione to give her a stunned look. "Harry and I will tell you on the train."

Hermione nodded while Mia followed Harry and Mr. Weasley through the station until they reached platforms nine and ten. They walked a little further until they finally reached the barrier that would take them to platform nine and three-quarters, with Mr. Weasley glancing around to make sure that the coast was clear. He and Harry approached the barrier first, both of them casually leaning against the wall and in the next moment they had fallen out of sight, along with Harry's trolley. Ginny and Percy decided to go next, and they took the barrier at a run once they were sure no one was watching. Then it was Fred and George, and after they had disappeared, Mia and Hermione were up next. Staying close together, they moved towards the barrier at a fast pace, and once they passed through, they found themselves on the bustling and lively platform, which was filled to the brink with students and all different t kinds of animals, with steam rolling across the stone ground. Mia and Hermione walked up to Harry and Mr. Weasley, and once they were all through the barrier, they set off to find an empty carriage. They didn't find one until they reached the end of the train, and Mr. Weasley helped them load all their luggage on board. When they had everything they needed, Mia and the others went back outside the train to say goodbye. Mrs. Weasley kissed all her children, then Hermione, then Mia, and finally Harry.

"Do take care, won't you Harry?" she said as she straightened up, opening her handbag. "I've made you all sandwiches. Here you are, Ron—no, they're not corned beef—Fred? Where's Fred? Here you are dear…"

"Harry," Mia heard Mr. Weasley say quietly. "Come over here for a moment."

Mia watched as Mr. Weasley led Harry away behind a pillar and her smile faded slightly. She had a pretty good idea what he wanted to talk to Harry about…she just hoped Mr. Weasley wouldn't be too mad when he found out that they had been eavesdropping. She gratefully took the sandwich that Mrs. Weasley had made for her, and she gave the plump woman an extra hug, thanking her. Mrs. Weasley smiled and patted her head, telling Mia to write from time to time. The next couple of minutes ticked by and Mrs. Weasley noticed that Harry and Mr. Weasley were not back yet. She looked up at the clock and then quickly started ushering them all onto the train.

"Arthur!" Mrs. Weasley called. "Arthur, what are you doing? It's about to go!"

"He's coming Molly!" Mr. Weasley called back. The whistle sounded and porters were walking all along the train, closing doors. Mia, Hermione, Ron, and Ginny all leaned out the door to say a final goodbye to Mrs. Weasley

"Now you all behave yourself," she said. "And we'll see you for the holidays—Arthur, quickly!"

Harry and Mr. Weasley ran out from behind the pillar just as the train started to move. Mia quickly threw open the compartment door and held out her hand to help Harry onto the train. He grabbed hold of it tightly and hoisted himself up, shutting the door behind him. They all leaned out of the window and waved goodbye to Mr. and Mrs. Weasley until they turned around the corner and lost sight of them. Mia couldn't help the calm feeling of happiness that engulfed her and she smiled. They were going back. When they were away from the station, Harry turned around to face them.

"I need to talk to you guys in private," Harry muttered to Ron and Hermione, taking a quick glance at Mia as he spoke.

"Go away, Ginny," said Ron.

"Oh, that's nice," said Ginny huffily, and she crossed her arms over her chest as she stormed off down the corridor. Mia took hold of her trunk and Sapphire's carrier and then the four of them set off down the corridor, looking for an empty compartment to sit in. Nearly all the ones they passed were crowded, full of laughing children, some of them setting off small fireworks in the start-of-term festivities. They kept on looking and then finally found a compartment at the very end of the train. Mia peeked inside and saw that there was only one other person in this compartment. It was a man, who appeared to be fast asleep, his head resting against the window, and a cloak covering his body and some of his face. Mia opened the sliding door carefully so as not to wake him and led them all inside. She held a finger up to her lips, signaling the others to be quiet, and they all placed their trunks up in the racks above them before they all took their seats. Now that they were sitting, Mia took a good look at the man. He seemed quite young, but the lines on his face showed that he was aging beyond his years, and the thin silver hairs mixed in with his brown ones made it stand out even more. There were a couple scars along his face, his skin was pale and delicate-looking, and the robes he wore were extremely shabby, and patched in some places. In all honesty, this man looked very ill.

"Who d'you reckon he is?" Ron hissed.

"Professor R. J. Lupin." whispered Hermione at once.

"How'd you know that?"

"It's on his case," she replied, pointing at the luggage rack over the man's head. Mia looked up to see that there was a small, battered case held together with a large quantity of neatly knotted string. The name _Professor R. J. Lupin_ was stamped across one corner in peeling letters. Mia felt sympathy and curiosity spark inside her as she stared at this man. She felt sympathy because due to how his robes and case looked, he didn't seem to make that much money, and she felt curious because his name sounded familiar to her, as if she had heard it before, but she couldn't remember when, or even how.

"Wonder what he teaches?" said Ron.

"That's obvious," whispered Hermione. "There's only one vacancy, isn't there? Defense Against the Dark Arts."

"Well, I hope he's up to it," said Ron doubtfully. "He looks like one good hex would finish him off, doesn't he? Anyway, Harry, what were you going to tell us?"

Harry explained how he and Mia had overheard Mr. and Mrs. Weasley's conversation last night while looking for Crookshanks and Scabbers' rat tonic. He told them how Sirius Black escaped Azkaban to come after him, and he also told them all about the warning Mr. Weasley gave him before they left the station. Mr. Weasley had told Harry that no matter what happened, he was not to go looking for Black. This confused Mia, because even though Harry had a knack for getting in trouble, he would never go looking for it, especially if that trouble consisted of a dangerous murderer out for blood. Once Harry was done talking, Ron and Hermione looked stunned and terrified.

"Sirius Black escaped to come after _you?_" said Hermione. "Oh, Harry, you'll have to be really, really careful. Don't go looking for trouble, Harry…"

"I don't go looking for trouble," said Harry. "Trouble usually finds _me_."

"Tell me about it," Mia smirked, earning herself a glare.

"How thick would Harry have to be, to go looking for a nutter who wants to kill him?" said Ron shakily. "No one knows how he got out of Azkaban. No one's ever done it before. And he was a top-security prisoner too."

"But they'll catch him, won't they?" said Hermione earnestly. "I mean, they've got all the Muggles looking out for him too."

"What's that noise?" said Ron suddenly. They all fell silent and Mia realized that there was a faint whistling sound coming from above them.

"It's coming from your trunk, Harry," said Ron, standing up and reaching into the luggage rack. A moment later he had pulled the Pocket Sneakoscope out from between Harry's robes. It was spinning very fast in the palm of Ron's hand and glowing brilliantly.

"Is that a Sneakoscope?" said Hermione interestedly, standing up for a better look.

"Yeah. Mind you, it's a very cheap one," Ron said. "It went haywire just as I was tying it to Errol's leg to send it to Harry."

"Were you doing anything untrustworthy at the time?" said Hermione shrewdly.

"No! Well…I wasn't supposed to be using Errol. You know he's not really up to long journeys…but how else was I supposed to get Harry's present to him?"

"Stick it back in the trunk," Harry advised as the Sneakoscope whistled piercingly, "or it'll wake him up."

He nodded toward Professor Lupin. Ron stuffed the Sneakoscope into a particularly horrible pair of Uncle Vernon's old socks, which deadened the sound, then closed the lid of the trunk on it.

"We could get it checked in Hogsmeade," said Ron, sitting back down. "They sell that sort of thing in Dervish and Banges, magical instruments and stuff. Fred and George told me."

Soon they got into a discussion about what they were looking forward to in Hogsmeade. Ron was eager to see Honeyduke's, a famous and popular sweetshop that sold almost everything you could ever imagine. While Ron was listing off all the sweets, Mia felt her mouth start to water and she was silently praying for the lunch cart to come early. Hermione, of course was interested in the history of the village, as it was made up by all wizards, and some of the most important historical events took place there. Mia remembered Fred and George telling her a little about the village, and she was interested in going to the Three Broomsticks to try Butterbeer, and to see Zonko's Joke Shop, where Fred and George buy most of their supplies. When Hermione asked Harry about it, Mia suddenly realized that he looked very glum. When she asked what was wrong, Harry told them that his aunt and uncle didn't sign his permission form…he wouldn't be going to Hogsmeade this year. Ron was horrified at the idea of Harry not being able to go, and Hermione grew stern when he suggested that they sneak Harry out of the castle.

"I don't think Harry should be sneaking out of the school with Black on the loose," Hermione said sharply.

"Yeah, I expect that's what McGonagall will say when I ask of permission," said Harry bitterly.

"But if we're with him," said Ron spiritedly to Hermione. "Black wouldn't dare—"

"Oh, Ron, don't talk rubbish," snapped Hermione. "Black's already murdered a whole bunch of people in the middle of a crowded street, do you really think he's going to worry about attacking Harry just because _we're_ there?"

"But Harry can't be the only third year left behind," said Mia. "It's not fair. It's bad enough that he's going to be kept under watch at school, but now he's going to be a confined prisoner. Do you think maybe McGonagall will let you go if there's a teacher with you at least?"

"I highly doubt it," Harry said. Mia gave him a sad look and she gave his arm a comforting squeeze. She felt horrible that Harry wasn't allowed to go to Hogsmeade, but unless McGonagall somehow agreed to sign the form, there was nothing they could do about it.

The train ride continued on, and after a while Hermione and Mia let Crookshanks and Sapphire out of their carriers, despite Ron's objection. Crookshanks had leapt up onto Ron's lap, but he pushed him away, making Hermione snap at him. While they were arguing, Professor Lupin shifted slightly in his sleep, and they all held their breath for a moment, but thankfully he didn't wake up. Sapphire jumped up between Harry and Mia and made herself comfortable, rubbing her head up against the side of Harry's thigh. As the Hogwarts Express moved farther into the countryside, Mia and the others started talking about the upcoming year. Harry and Ron were talking about the new Quidditch season while Mia talked to Hermione about all the classes they were taking. Mia still couldn't understand how Hermione was going to handle so many classes at once, but she didn't try to talk her out of it—she knew Hermione enough by now to know that she was going to make it work somehow. Mia even had the brilliant idea of having them speak in French to confuse the boys, which worked out splendidly, making them look at them with anxious faces. When the afternoon finally rolled around, the old witch came to their compartment with the cart full of treats, and Mia jumped out of her seat in excitement. Hermione had tried waking up Professor Lupin, but he continued to sleep. The old witch told them to let the Professor know that she would be up front with the driver if he woke up hungry.

They had left the calm, peaceful country by now, and they were starting to travel into the more wild parts of it. Also, it had started to rain, with dark stormy clouds hanging overhead in the sky. Mia nibbled on her chocolate frogs while softly stroking Sapphire's fur, listening to a funny story that Ron was currently telling them about how Fred and George tried to shut Percy up in one of the pyramids in Egypt. After a little while, Mia started to get slightly tired, so she placed her head upon Harry's shoulder, smiling when she could practically feel him rolling his eyes.

"Since when I did I become a pillow?" he asked.

"Since I just made you one," Mia replied simply. "Now stop complaining and hold still."

Harry complied while Ron and Hermione chuckled. Mia kept on stroking Sapphire's back while Ron continued his story, and she didn't even notice when she had stopped petting her cat nor when her eyes slowly fluttered closed until she heard the compartment door open quite loudly.

"Well, look who it is," said a familiar lazy drawl. "Potty and the Weasel."

Mia's eyes snapped open to see none other than Draco Malfoy standing in the doorway with his cronies, Crabbe and Goyle.

_Well this is just great, _Mia thought bitterly. _We're not even at Hogwarts yet and we have to deal with this prat already._

"What do you want Malfoy?" Mia snapped at him. "Last time I checked, we didn't invite you in."

"Dear me, how will I ever live with myself knowing I've disturbed the Mudblood's nap?" Malfoy taunted.

"You never know, I might still be asleep, because looking at your face is a complete nightmare," Mia retorted, narrowing her eyes at him. "Just leave us alone."

"I'll leave when I see fit to," Malfoy sneered at her before turning to Ron. "I heard your father finally got his hands on some gold this summer, Weasley. Did your mother die of shock?"

Ron's face went red with rage, and he stood up from his seat so quickly he knocked Crookshanks's basket to the floor. Professor Lupin gave a snort, making everyone look at him.

"Who's that?" said Malfoy, taking an automatic step backward.

"New teacher," said Harry, getting to his feet also. "What were you saying, Malfoy?"

Malfoy's face soured and he glared at them all while Mia grinned—she knew he wasn't fool enough to pick a fight right under a teacher's nose.

"C'mon," he muttered resentfully to Crabbe and Goyle, and they disappeared into the corridor, slamming the door behind them.

"Come on Ron, sit back down," Mia said, trying to calm him. "Don't listen to what he says."

"I'm not going to take any crap from Malfoy this year," he said angrily as he sat down with Harry. "I mean it. If he makes one more crack about my family, I'm going to get hold of his head and—"

Ron made a violent gesture in midair.

"Ron," hissed Hermione, pointing at Professor Lupin. "Be careful…"

"Malfoy's an absolute prat," Mia grumbled.

"I know," Hermione said, nodding. "He really shouldn't talk about other people's family like that—"

"Not that," Mia whined, latching herself onto Harry's arm and making her eyes nice and big. "He took my pillow away from me."

Her plan instantly worked as Ron burst out laughing, his sour mood against Malfoy temporarily forgotten, and Hermione rolled her eyes while Harry just shook his head, grinning.

As the next couple hours passed by, the rain outside grew heavier and heavier until it was coming down on hard sheets, pounding against the window. The sky on the other side of the window was getting even darker until it was finally pitch black. All the lights and lanterns on the train instantly sprung to life, filling the compartment with a warm, soft glow, making Mia feel comfortable despite the roaring wind.

"We must be nearly there," said Ron, leaning forward to look past Professor Lupin at the now completely black window. The words had hardly left him when the train started to slow down.

"Great," said Ron. "I'm starving. I want to get to the feast."

"We can't be there yet," said Hermione, checking her watch. "We still have a little less than an hour."

"So why're we stopping?" asked Mia. As she spoke, the train was moving slower and slower until it finally came to a stop with a sudden jolt, causing Mia to fall to the floor along with Sapphire, and in the next moment, all the lights went out, leaving them in complete darkness. Mia immediately began to feel anxious, and worried. What on earth was going on?

"Mia, are you okay?" she heard Hermione say.

"Yeah, I'm fine," Mia answered, searching through the darkness for her seat. She felt an arm, probably Harry's, and used it to hoist herself back up onto her seat. As she sat back down, she suddenly realized that instead of feeling warm like she did a moment ago, she started to feel a little cool, as if the temperature was dropping.

"What's going on?" said Ron's voice.

"Ouch!" gasped Hermione. "Ron, that was my foot!"

"D'you think we've broken down?" Harry asked.

"We couldn't have," Mia said, staring around in the darkness. "The Hogwarts Express was designed by magic, it doesn't break down."

Mia was able to make out something in front of her move towards the window.

"There's something moving out there," Ron said. "I think people are coming aboard…"

Their compartment door opened once again, and then Mia heard someone tumble to the ground.

"Sorry! D'you know what's going on? Ouch! Sorry—"

"Hello, Neville," said Harry.

"Harry? Is that you? What's happening?"

"No idea. Sit down—"

There was a loud hissing and a yelp of pain—Mia guessed that Neville had tried to sit on either Crookshanks or Sapphire. She felt around the seat next to her, moving over slowly to make room for Neville, only stopping when her fingertips found the hem of Professor Lupin's robes.

"Here Neville, sit next to me," Mia instructed, using her voice to guide Neville over to her. She reached out her hand and felt it come into contact with someone's robes. Latching onto it, Mia led Neville carefully into the seat next to her, making sure he didn't hurt himself.

"I'm going to go and ask the driver what's going on," came Hermione's voice. Mia heard her move in the compartment, then the door opened and there were two loud squeals of pain.

"Who's that?"

"Who's _that?_"

"Ginny?"

"Hermione?"

"What are you doing?"

"I was looking for Ron—"

"Come in and sit down—"

"Not here!" said Harry hurriedly. "I'm here!"

"Ouch!" said Neville.

"Ron, move over so Ginny can sit," said Mia.

"I can't see her—"

"Quiet!" said a hoarse voice suddenly.

Everyone went completely still and silent as Mia felt movement right next to her. It looked like Professor Lupin was finally awake. Now that they had stopped talking, Mia realized that the temperature had dropped even more and she actually began to shiver. No one made a sound for about a minute before their compartment was suddenly filled with shimmering light. Mia looked over to see Professor Lupin sitting in his seat, holding a handful of flames in his palm.

"Stay where you are." he said in the same hoarse voice, and he got slowly to his feet with his handful of fire held out in front of him. Mia wanted to ask the professor what was going on, but before she could get any words out of her mouth, something happened—just as Lupin reached the door, the entire compartment began to freeze over, the windows, the luggage racks, and even the ground started to get slippery. Mia's breath started coming out in puffs of white smoke, and she shivered violently from the sudden cold. Feelings of sorrow and gloom began washing over her from out of the blue, and she had no idea why. The feeling scared her very much, and she wrapped her arms around herself. It felt as if every happy and cheerful emotion was being drained from her. As she looked up at Professor Lupin, the door to the compartment door slowly slid open and Mia gasped when she saw what was on the other side.

Standing in the doorway was a towering cloaked figure dressed in tattered black robes, seeming to float on nothing, hovering above the ground. Mia couldn't see what was underneath the hood, but she did see a gray, slimy and scabbed hand protruding from underneath the cloak, making her think of a zombie from a Muggle movie. Crookshanks and Sapphire both hissed loudly at the creature, and Scabbers the rat gave a terrified squeak. The creature, whatever it was, slowly started to float inside the compartment, and then it drew a long, slow, rattling breath, as though it were trying to suck something more than air from its surroundings.

All at once, Mia felt an intense cold seep into her chest, inside her very heart, and she gasped from the pain of it. It was as if she were drowning in a sea of icy water, and it was slowly ripping her soul apart. All thoughts of love and happiness were gone, and all she could feel was pain and sadness. Her mind was clouded over, and, to her horror, she began to hear voices inside her head…

"_What do you think, Amelia? You and Harry can have wonders beyond your wildest dreams…all you have to do is give me the Stone, unless you want to watch him die in vain…"_

Mia's breathing became ragged and she shook her head, wrapping her arms tighter around herself.

"_Kill him, fool, and be done! KILL HIM!"_

"No," Mia whispered, her voice shaking. "Please, no…"

"_That's where you're wrong, dear Amelia…I'll admit I wondered when I would get you alone, but you just made it all the more easy…" _

Mia let out a tiny whimper, shaking her head even more, mentally screaming for _him _to get out of her head. She tried her best to fight off the horrible memories and the cold, but it was nearly impossible. She looked over to Harry and she gasped again when she saw the state he was in. His entire body was shaking as if he were having some sort of seizure, his eyes rolling into the back of his head. And then, without warning, Harry fell out of his seat and onto the floor, twitching.

"Harry!" she cried, forcing herself off the seat and onto the floor next to him. _"Harry!" _

Mia quickly pulled his upper body into her lap so he wouldn't hurt himself by twitching or jerking around. Professor Lupin quickly walked around them and took a defensive position in front of them, pulling his wand out of his robes.

"None of us are hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go," he said in a firm voice. The creature didn't move an inch. Mia heard Professor Lupin mutter something under his breath, and then, to her amazement, something blinding and silver shot out of the end of his wand and towards the horrid creature, which instantly backed away, cowering from the light, and disappearing down the corridor, the door closing behind it. The light from Lupin's wand extinguished, and it was only when the creature was gone that's Harry's body became still. The terrible cold that had surrounded them was now gone, and Mia let out a deep breath of relief. After about a minute of silence, there was a violent jolt, and then the train started moving again, and, to everyone's relief, all the lights flickered back on, making everyone be able to see again. She could just make out her friend's frightened and pale expressions, and most of them were still shaking. Hermione seemed to be the first one to snap out of it, as she came down to the floor and tried shaking Harry's shoulders roughly.

"Harry!" she said loudly, but he didn't move. Hermione raised her hand and tried slapping his face. That seemed to work, because his eyes finally opened and he stared up at them all with a slightly confused and dazed look.

"Harry!" Mia breathed. "Are you okay?"

"W-what?" Harry muttered, staring at his surroundings.

"You fell out of your seat," Mia said, her voice still shaking. "Come on."

With Hermione's help, they were able to heave him up onto his seat. Mia gazed worriedly into his face—he was extremely pale, and there was a cold sweat on his forehead. What had happened to make him pass out like that? What did that thing do to him?

"Are you okay?" Ron asked nervously.

"Yeah," said Harry, looking quickly toward the door. "What happened? Where's that—that thing? Who screamed?"

Mia felt her own face start to go pale as well. Did Harry hear things inside his head too?

"No one screamed," said Ron, more nervously still.

"But I heard screaming—"

A loud snap made them all jump, and Mia looked over to see Professor Lupin breaking an enormous slab of chocolate into pieces. In any other situation she would have been wondering what he was doing with such a large piece of chocolate.

"Here," he said to Harry, handing him a particularly large piece. "Eat it. It'll help."

Harry took the chocolate but didn't eat it. He stared at Lupin as he handed the rest of the chocolate out to everyone else. Mia took her piece and mumbled a soft "Thank you," before taking a small bite. Almost instantly, she felt warmth spread suddenly to the tips of her fingers and toes, and her body finally stopped shaking, and she was able to take a real calm breath since the creature left.

"What was that thing?" Harry asked Lupin.

"A Dementor," Lupin answered. "One of the Dementors of Azkaban."

"That was a Dementor?" Mia said, her eyes wide upon realizing what exactly it was that was in the compartment moments before. "Why on earth was there one on the train?"

"It was searching the train for Sirius Black," Lupin told her, crumbling up the empty chocolate wrapper and putting it in his pocket. Mia just stared at him, unable to believe it. Dementors on the Hogwarts Express…what was the Ministry thinking?! Allowing such horrid and dark creatures on a train full of children—who knows how many others have been affected by its presence. She had read all about Dementors last year, and she had hoped never to run into one of them.

"Don't worry, it's gone now," Lupin reassured her, seeing her scared expression. "Just eat the chocolate, it'll help. I need to speak to the driver, excuse me…"

Professor Lupin walked past Harry and Mia and out into the corridor. Sapphire came out from the corner next to the window, placing herself in Mia's lap and rubbing herself against her, as if she were trying to comfort her mistress. Mia smiled down at her and gathered her cat into a hug.

"Are you sure you're okay, Harry?" said Hermione, watching him anxiously.

"I don't get it…what happened?" said Harry.

"Well—that thing—the Dementor—stood there and looked around, I mean, I think it did, I couldn't see its face—and you—you—"

"We thought you were having a fit or something," said Ron, who still looked scared. "You went sort of rigid and fell out of your seat and started twitching—"

"And Professor Lupin stepped over you, and walked toward the Dementor, and pulled out his wand," said Hermione, "and he said, 'None of us is hiding Sirius Black under our cloaks. Go.' But the Dementor didn't move, so Lupin muttered something, and a silvery thing shot out of his wand at it, and it turned around and sort of glided away…"

"It was horrible," said Neville, in a higher voice than usual. "Did you feel how cold it got when it came in?"

"I felt weird," said Ron, shifting his shoulders uncomfortably. "Like I'd never be cheerful again…"

Ginny, who was huddled in her corner looking nearly as bad as Harry felt, gave a small sob. Hermione went over and put a comforting arm around her.

"But didn't any of you—fall off your seats?" said Harry awkwardly.

"No," said Ron, looking anxiously at Harry again. "Ginny was shaking like mad, though…"

"I heard something too Harry," Mia said quietly, staring down into her lap.

"You did? What did you hear?" said Harry. Mia felt her eyes start to grow a little wet and she shook her head, not wanting to say. Dementors forced people to relive their worst fears. She didn't want to think about what Harry heard, but for her…she didn't want to face it. No matter how tough she tried to be, she still couldn't completely forget that night with Quirrell, or the night she had faced Voldemort when he was possessing Ginny. She knew her friends wouldn't tease her about it, but she just felt so helpless and stupid whenever she thought about it. She realized long ago that what happened that night with Quirrell wasn't anyone's fault—Harry told her he didn't blame her, but she couldn't help it sometimes. That was a frightening night for both of them, and no matter how hard she tried, she couldn't get it out of her mind.

Before anyone could ask her anymore questions, they heard the door open and saw that Professor Lupin had come back. He paused as he entered, looked around, and said, with a small smile, "I haven't poisoned that chocolate, you know…"

Harry and everyone else took a bite out of their chocolate, and their pale faces quickly regained their color and their tense postures relaxed.

"We'll be at Hogwarts in ten minutes," said Professor Lupin. "Are you all right, Harry?"

"Fine," Harry muttered.

"Professor," said Mia. "Thank you for getting rid of that thing."

"You're welcome," Professor Lupin said, staring at her softly, a concerned look coming across his face when he saw her watery eyes. "Are you all right?"

"Yeah, I'm okay," Mia said, moving her attention to the window, which was still pitch black with large, bullet sized raindrops pounding on the glass. She had a feeling that this year wasn't going to be as easy and relaxing as she had hoped…

**Read and review please! **


	4. Meeting Noah

**Hi there everyone! I'm soooooo excited to put up this chapter, it's one of my favorites! I've put a lot of effort into it, so I really do hope you all enjoy as much as I do. If there's something that needs fixing or that you think could be better, I won't be upset, just let me know! **

**Oh, and I saw that some of you had some questions as to why Professor Lupin is familiar to Mia. Lupin himself isn't familiar to her, just his name, so she doesn't know him personally. I plan to reveal it hopefully within the next few chapters, but for those of you who really want to know, look in the last chapter of the first "You Were Always There" story and you should find it. I'm sure that'll clear things up for you guys, and if there's any more questions, just let me know! Pretty please review, you know I love them, and enjoy chapter four! Let me know what you think of my Sorting Hat song!**

**Disclaimer: All things Harry Potter are not mine. **

Chapter Four: Meeting Noah

MPOV

Mia and the others finally reached the station within the next half hour, and she had never felt so anxious to get off the train. She, Hermione and Ginny quickly left to change into their school robes when the train started to slow down, coming back to the compartment when it came to a complete stop. Mia placed Sapphire in her carrier, took her wand out of her bag, and placed it in the pocket of her robes before they all started to walk out onto the station with the other students. Almost all of them looked awful, their pale faces standing out in the lantern-lit platform, some appearing terrified and staring around, as if they expected another Dementor to be right behind them. It was still raining very hard, and Mia shivered from the cold.

"Firs' years this way!" called a familiar voice. Mia, Harry, Ron, and Hermione turned and saw the gigantic outline of Hagrid at the other end of the platform, beckoning the terrified-looking new students forward for their traditional journey across the lake.

"All right, you four?" Hagrid yelled over the heads of the crowd. They all waved to him, but didn't get the chance to talk because they were being pushed on by the crowd towards the end of the platform, where they saw a hundred stagecoaches waiting for them, each one pulled by an invisible horse. Mia had to smile at the look on Ron and Harry's face when they saw that the carriages were moving by themselves—since they flew Mr. Weasley's car to school last year, they had no idea how the rest of the school went up to the castle while the first years were taking the boast. Once they were at the front of the line, Mia, Harry, Ron and Hermione all clamored into the carriage and then set of for the main gates. When they approached, Mia peered out the window and saw that two towering Dementors were guarding each side, and she unconsciously shifted closer to Hermione, shivering once again. The rain pounded on the roof of the carriage, and Mia silently laughed as she watched Hermione try to wring the water out of her hair.

"Why bother Hermione? We're just going to get wet again when we get out," Mia stated. "Hermione just glared at her while Ron sniggered. The road was a little bumpy, and after a little while Mia looked back out the window to see the marvelous castle standing before them, shiny in its glory even through all the rain. When they carriage stopped in front of the fleet of stairs leading to the front doors, Mia was the first one to get out, followed by Ron and Hermione. As Harry stepped out, their presence was once again ruined by Malfoy, who walked up to Harry with a gleeful look on his face.

"You fainted, Potter? Is Longbottorn telling the truth? You actually _fainted?_"

"Shove off, Malfoy," said Ron, whose jaw was clenched.

"Did you faint as well, Weasley?" said Malfoy loudly. "Did the scary old Dementor frighten you too?"

"Get lost Malfoy!" Mia snapped, not finding this funny at all.

"Is there a problem?" said a mild voice. Mia and the others turned to see that Professor Lupin had just gotten out of the next carriage, and was staring at them all with intense eyes, almost giving Malfoy a challenging look. Malfoy gave Professor Lupin an insolent stare, which took in the patches on his robes and the dilapidated suitcase.

"Oh, no—er—_Professor_," Malfoy said, then he smirked at Crabbe and Goyle and led them up the steps into the castle.

"That little twit," Mia snarled at his retreating back. "I swear one day I'm going to grab a broom and shove it right up his—"

Mia didn't get to finish her rant because Harry slapped a hand over her mouth and discreetly gestured towards Professor Lupin while grinning.

"I don't think we need to know the exact details of what you would do, Mia," he said. Mia just huffed at him and gave him a playful shove before they all started walking up the staircase into the entrance hall, desperate to get out of the rain. When they reached the inside, Mia was glad to finally be out of the cold rain, and just as they made their way towards the doors leading to the Great Hall, they heard a very loud voice shout through the crowd.

"Potter! Granger! I want to see you both!"

Everyone turned around to see Professor McGonagall, Transfiguration teacher and head of Gryffindor House, walking towards them, her eyes stern as she peered at the over her spectacles. Harry and Hermione both stepped forward, each one with an anxious look on their face, which Mia completely understood—when it comes to Professor McGonagall, you always feel like you must have gotten into trouble somehow. In a weird sort of way, Mia felt that's why so many people respected her. Professor McGonagall took no nonsense and was strict, but an admirable person to look up to. Upon seeing Harry and Hermione's expression, Professor McGonagall was quick to reassure them.

"There's no need to look so worried—I just want a word in my office," she said. "Move along there, Weasley, Thatcher."

Mia returned Harry's confused look as Professor McGonagall led him and Hermione away, taking them up the marble staircase leading to the upper floors.

"Wonder what all that's about?" Mia said.

"Search me," Ron said, shrugging his shoulders. "Let's go in—the feast should be starting soon."

"You do realize that we have to go through the Sorting Ceremony first, right?" Mia asked, raising an eyebrow. Ron groaned out loud at this realization just as his stomach grumbled. Mia couldn't help but laugh at him as they headed back towards the Great Hall, and a wide smile stretched across Mia's face as they walked past the giant oak doors. The room was aglow with all the floating candles and torches on the walls, the polished wooden house tables laden with gold plates and goblets, the sounds of chatter surrounding her. A huge wave of relief spread over her, and she finally felt safe since the Dementor had entered their compartment. As she and Ron walked over to their table, she caught sight of her friends, Alex Parker and Jenna Sterling sitting at the Hufflepuff table. The two of them waved frantically at her as she walked past, and she waved back cheerfully at them while she and Ron took their seats close to Dean and Seamus, Ron and Harry's dormates.

"Where's Harry and Hermione?" Dean asked.

"Professor McGonagall needed to talk to them about something," Mia answered. "They should be back soon."

"Mia, is it true that Harry passed out when the Dementor came to your compartment?" Seamus said.

"How did you know?" asked Ron, looking stumped.

"Malfoy's telling anyone who will listen," Seamus replied. Mia scowled heavily at that, imagining many different ways to curse Malfoy and make it look like an accident.

"I can't really blame Harry though," Dean said quietly. "Those Dementors are awful…"

"Makes you feel like there's no happiness in the world," Seamus added with a shudder. Mia couldn't agree more—she remembered Jenna telling her and Hermione about Dementors last year, and they were more horrible than she ever would have thought. If what her and her friends experienced on the train was what it was like in Azkaban…she couldn't start to think how terrible it was there. In the very back of her mind, for the briefest moment, she thought that it might be better for Sirius Black to just spend the rest of his life on the run instead of having to go back and face those terrible creatures again.

It didn't take much longer for everyone to get settled in, and soon the uncomfortable and nervousness started to fade away, breaking into lively chatter and laughter. Mia figured that, like her, the school was feeling safer now that they were inside Hogwarts. A few more minutes passed before Mia drew her attention to the high table, where Hagrid had just slipped in through the side door and took his seat next to Professor Sinistra, the Astronomy teacher. She also saw Professor Dumbledore sitting at the center, smiling happily at all of his students, as if overjoyed to see them all once again, his silver hair and beard shining in the light of the torches, his blue eyes twinkling behind his half-moon glasses. Not even two minutes later, the door to the Great Hall suddenly opened and Mia looked to see a long line of first year students entering the hall, led not by McGonagall, but Professor Flitwick. Professor McGonagall must still be talking with Harry and Hermione. Once the first years reached the front, Professor Flitwick left the hall for a brief moment and then returned, holding a four-legged stool, a scroll of parchment, and the Hogwarts Sorting Hat in his arms. The Sorting Hat decided what house you would be placed into, so every first year had to put it on so it would decide where you belonged. Professor Flitwick set down the stool, placed the hat on it, and then stepped back. The hall was completely silent, staring at the hat and waiting. Then, the large rip near the hem opened up and the hat started to sing.

"_Welcome, welcome young students here_

_From near and far and wide_

_Come and show us all your faces_

_There's no reason to hide_

_No need to fear, I mean no harm_

_As I sing this merry tune_

_I am here to decide where you belong_

_Which we all shall know soon_

_I am just a simple hat_

_Made oh so long ago_

_By great witches and wizards four_

_Most of whom that you all know_

_Brave and daring young Gryffindor_

_Who came to those in need_

_Sweet Hufflepuff, of fair and grace_

_Always wanting to do a good deed_

_Sharp minded and witty Ravenclaw_

_Whose intellect was all well known_

_And cunning, ambitious Slytherin_

_Who always looked out for their own_

_This castle here the founders built_

_United by a common goal_

_To teach young wizards the arts of magic_

_And bring them together as a whole_

_Like I said before, I am here_

_For one reason, and one alone_

_To carry on the Hogwarts creed_

_And the glory in all it has shown_

_Try me on, I'll look into your head_

_And see where you belong_

_The Hogwarts houses want you all_

_For you're as magical as this song!"_

As the Sorting Hat's song came to an end, the entire hall burst into applause, Mia included. That had to have been one of the hat's best songs yet!

"That wasn't the song it sang for us in our first year," Ron said as he clapped.

"It sings a new one every year," Mia explained.

As the clapping died down, the Sorting Hat bowed to each of the tables before becoming still once again. Professor Flitwick came forward, unrolling the scroll and clearing his throat.

"When I call your name, you will come forth, place the hat on your head, and then you will be sorted," he squeaked to the first years. "Ashton, Rebecca!"

A small dark haired girl came forward, biting her lip and staring at the hat as if it was going to attack her. Professor Flitwick, being too short to place the hat on her head himself, raise his wand and levitated the hat high enough so Rebecca could take a seat on the stool. She started shaking a little as the hat was placed on her head, and the whole room was silent as it made its decision. All was silent for about ten second before the hat opened its mouth and shouted, "GRYFFINDOR!"

Mia and Ron cheered and clapped loudly as the Sorting Hat was taken off of the very first new Gryffindor. Rebecca got up off the stool and then quickly made her way over to the table, her face pink, but a wide smile on her face. She took a seat across from Mia, who offered her a kind smile.

"Congratulations," she said warmly. "Welcome to Gryffindor."

"Thanks!" Rebecca said, smiling back.

"Bellhorn, Tristan!" Professor Flitwick called once the cheering dies down. A boy with honey golden locks stepped forward eagerly and had a grin on his face as the hat was lowered over his eyes.

"GRYFFINDOR!"

The Gryffindor table cheered once again as Tristan hopping off the stool and sprinted over, his eyes glowing excitedly. Professor Flitwick continued to call out names from the scroll, and Mia was surprised when he read out, "Collins, Leah!" Mia looked over at Rachel, her roommate, and saw her smiling widely at the little girl, a hopeful expression on her face. Looking back at the girl, Mia realized that they had to be sisters—Leah had the same dark red hair, the same nose, and the same eye shape, although Leah's eyes were a darker blue than Rachel's. The Sorting Hat barely even touched Leah's head before it proclaimed her a Gryffindor, and the whole table turned its yelling and clapping up a notch, ecstatic at having acquired their third Gryffindor in such a short amount of time. Rachel grabbed her sister into a bone crushing hug when Leah reached the table, and the little first year grinned happily as she took her seat next to Rachel.

The Sorting continued on, with each house table cheering as another first year joined them. All together Gryffindor got eight new members, five boys and three girls. Finally, when "Weller, Elena" was sorted into Ravenclaw, Professor Flitwick rolled up the scroll, took the Sorting Hat and stool into his arms and walked out of the hall. It was then when Mia saw movement out of the corner of her eye and she turned to see that Harry had returned and was taking a seat a seat next to her while Hermione sat down across from them.

"What was all that about?" Ron muttered to Harry.

Harry started to explain why Professor McGonagall wanted to see him and Hermione, but at that moment, Professor Dumbledore stood to his feet and Harry stopped talking as the whole school listened in.

"Welcome!" said Dumbledore. "Welcome to another year at Hogwarts! I have a few things to say to you all, and as one of them is very serious, I think it best to get it out of the way before you become befuddled by our excellent feast. As you will all be aware after their search of the Hogwarts Express, our school is presently playing host to some of the Dementors of Azkaban, who are here on Ministry of Magic business."

Professor Dumbledore took a moment to pause, his face turning stony for half a second. Mia remembered the conversation she and Harry heard between Mr. and Mrs. Weasley about how Dumbledore was not thrilled with Dementors guarding the school and being around his students.

"They are stationed at every entrance to the grounds," Dumbledore continued. "And while they are with us, I must make it plain that nobody is to leave school without permission. Dementors are not to be fooled by tricks or disguises—or even Invisibility Cloaks," he added blandly, causing Mia to glance around at the others.

"It is not in the nature of a Dementor to understand pleading or excuses. I therefore warn each and every one of you to give them no reason to harm you. I look to the prefects, and our new Head Boy and Girl, to make sure that no student runs afoul of the Dementors," he said. "Now, on a happier note, I am pleased to welcome two new teachers to our ranks this year. First, Professor Lupin, who has kindly consented to fill the post of Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher."

As Professor Lupin stood up, there weren't very many people who applauded. However, Mia, Harry, Ron, Hermione, and the others who were in the compartment were the only ones who clapped loudly, and Mia saw Professor Lupin give them a grateful smile before sitting back in his seat.

"As to our second new appointment," Dumbledore continued. "Well, I am sorry to tell you that Professor Kettleburn, our Care of Magical Creatures teacher, retired at the end of last year in order to enjoy more time with his remaining limbs. However, I am delighted to say that his place will be filled by none other than Rubeus Hagrid, who has agreed to take on this teaching job in addition to his gamekeeping duties."

Mia's mouth dropped open for a couple seconds before a large grin spread across her face. She joined in with the applause for Hagrid and she could see him blushing all the way from her seat. Hagrid was going to be a teacher! This was amazing, and this class was perfect for Hagrid! Mia felt so very happy for him, and she found herself more excited than ever to start her first class.

"We should've known!" Ron roared, pounding the table. "Who else would have assigned us a biting book?"

"Well, I think that's everything of importance," said Dumbledore as everyone stopped clapping. "Let the feast begin!"

All at once, the tables filled up to the brim with food and drink, and Mia happily started to pile some hot roast beef on her plate, along with some mashed potatoes and broccoli. Everything was so very delicious, and made Mia feel so very warm, despite the fact that she was still damp from the rain outside. She was so hungry she managed to make room for seconds and by the time the desserts appeared, she immediately snatched up some apple pie with vanilla ice cream. It was a wonderful feast, filled with laughter and the clattering of forks and knifes. She even talked a little with Rebecca, who seemed kind of shy and was keeping to herself mostly.

"What do you think of the food Rebecca?" Mia asked her.

"It's delicious," Rebecca said, taking a sip of pumpkin juice. "I've never had such good food before—and you can call me Becca."

"Okay Becca. If you think the food is great, just wait until classes start," Mia said. "They're loads of fun."

"Mia, we're so ashamed of you!" called Fred Weasley from a few seats down.

"Lying to an itty bitty first year! Have you no shame?" George continued, feigning disappointment as he shook his head. "We thought we raised you better!"

"Don't listen to those idiots," Mia said, rolling her eyes at them. ""They're just a couple of troublemakers…"

"And proud of it!" they said in unison, saluting both her and Rebecca. Rebecca giggled a little and then her face fell.

"Are the classes really hard?" she asked. "I read about them and I'm not sure if I'll be smart enough."

"Are you a Muggleborn?" Mia asked curiously. Rebecca shook her head.

"Half-blood," she replied. "My mum's a Muggle, and my dad died a few years ago."

"Oh, I'm sorry," Mia said softly. "I won't lie to you, it will seem overwhelming at first, but it gets much, much easier. There are lots of kids here who start off not knowing about magic at all, and they get along just fine. Everyone starts off here, and with some practice and hard work, you'll do great."

"But what if no one likes me?" Rebecca asked.

"I'm sure you'll find some really great friends," Mia said confidently, smiling as she thought of her own. "You meet so many people here at Hogwarts, it's hard not to make friends…but there are still those redheads that just wander into your train compartment and keep following you around all the time."

"Oi!" Ron exclaimed indignantly, while Harry nearly choked on his drink from laughing. Mia just smiled sweetly at him, causing Harry to laugh even more and Hermione to hide her giggles behind her hand. Mia talked with Becca a little while longer until all the food vanished from the tables and Professor Dumbledore sent them all off to bed. Mia pointed out the Gryffindor Prefect that Becca had to follow and then she quickly ran up to the teacher's table with Harry, Ron and Hermione to talk to Hagrid.

"Congratulations, Hagrid!" Hermione squealed.

"All down ter you four," said Hagrid, wiping his shining face on his napkin as he looked up at them. "Can' believe it…great man, Dumbledore…came straight down to me hut after Professor Kettleburn said he'd had enough…It's what I always wanted…"

"You'll do brilliant Hagrid, I know you will!" Mia said, beaming at him. "I can't wait for our first class with you!"

Hagrid smiled happily at her before turning red again and burying his face in his napkin before Professor McGonagall shooed them away. Mia and the others followed their fellow classmates out into the entrance hall and up the marble staircase. Even though she was tried and sleepy, Mia couldn't help but wave at the many portraits that flanked their sides, calling out cheerful greetings to the first years and happy returns to everyone else. They even passed by Sir Nick, who was drifting along, and he grinned widely at the sight of them, taking a low bow before floating away down the corridor. Soon enough they finally came to the entrance to the Gryffindor common room, which was a portrait of a fat lady in a pink silk dress. When she asked for the password, Percy came up to the front, informing them all that the password was "Fortuna Major." Once they spoke the password, the Fat Lady swung open, and they all clamored inside the common room. Mia smiled at the scarlet red armchairs in front of the fire, the draping curtains by the windows, and the gleaming wooden tables set up here and there. The sight of the common room made Mia feel at home. After everyone was inside, Mia stopped to give both Harry and Ron a hug goodnight before she left with Hermione to head up to the girl's dormitories. The two of them walked up the spiral staircase together until they reached a door labeled _Third Years. _They opened the door to see all of their belongings set up by their beds, and once they were inside, both Mia and Hermione went over to let their cats out of their carriers. Sapphire came out and immediately made herself comfortable on Mia's bed while Crookshanks started walking around, exploring his surroundings.

"Is that your cat Hermione?" Parvati asked as she, Lavender, and Rachel came into the dorm.

"Yes, I just bought him yesterday," Hermione answered, bending down to stroke Crookshanks' head.

"He's so fluffy," Lavender giggled. "How was your holidays?"

"Very nice, Mia and I went to France," Hermione answered.

"Really?" said Rachel, smiling. "Was it fun?"

"Loads," said Mia. "I'm happy your sister got into Gryffindor Rachel—I didn't even know you had a sister, actually."

"Yes, I have a younger sister and brother, but David won't be starting until after we graduate," Rachel said. "He's only six."

In ten minutes all the girls were dressed in their pajamas and seated on their beds, talking and laughing together about all different kinds of things. Mia and Hermione didn't really spend any time with the other girls in their year, so it was a nice change. Lavender and Parvati were very girly, always giggling and talking about their crushes and the latest edition of Witch Magazine. Rachel was a little more reserved, only truly open to those who were closest to her. Their topics switched from their summer holidays, to boys, to classes, to the new magical French perfume that's on the market, and some of the beautiful dresses that Parvati's grandparents had sent her from India. While they were talking, Mia was sitting on her bed writing a letter to her parents and Mrs. Brugger. She had become quite fond of the elderly lady in the last month she had spent at her home, and she promised Mrs. Brugger that she would write to her from time to time. It was obvious that she couldn't have an owl deliver the letters to Mrs. Brugger's house, so she sent it to her own house and asked her parents if they could put it in the mail to be sent to Mrs. Brugger's house. Mia knew it would be hard not to write all the details about what happens at school, but she couldn't say no to the elder lady's kind face, not after she gave Mia a job helping out around the house.

The Gryffindor girls talked for a long while, until they started getting very sleeping. One by one they all fell down onto their bed, and then it was only Mia and Hermione left. Yawning, Mia and Hermione laid down on their beds and Mia cuddled up close to Sapphire as she closed her eyes and settled into a peaceful slumber.

….

Mia woke up the following morning feeling well rested and very excited. She gathered her clothes and rushed into the shower before any of the others woke up. Once she was cleaned up and dressed, she walked back into the dorm and took the liberty of picking up a pillow and smacking Hermione with it.

"Come on Mione, wake up," Mia said as she grabbed a hairbrush and started running it through her hair. "It's the first day of classes, you need to get ready."

"Why so early though?" Hermione asked sleepily as she started to sit up.

"We overslept a little, breakfast is in a half hour—"

"What?!" came many shrieks of surprise and Hermione and the other girls shot up in their beds. In the next moment, Mia flattened herself against the wall as Hermione, Parvati, Lavender and Rachel all went rushing past her on their way to the showers.

It took only tem minutes for Hermione to get her shower, and by the time she was running back into the room, Mia had her books, quills and parchment in her bag and was pulling her hair up into a high ponytail, her curls bouncing along as she moved. Just a few more minutes later, both girls were all set to go, and they left the dorm, heading down the spiral staircase, with Mia gawking at Hermione bag, which was bulging with all her books.

"Should I even ask?" she said.

"Nope," Hermione said simply. Mia rolled her eyes but didn't say anymore as they continued down the staircase to find Ron and Harry waiting for them.

"Well, this is a first," Ron chuckled as they approached. "We got down here before you two."

"Shut it," Mia said with a smile as they walked out of the portrait hole and made their way down to the Great Hall for breakfast. As they entered, they saw Malfoy entertaining a large group of Slytherins with a very funny story. As they passed, Malfoy did a ridiculous impression of a swooning fit and there was a roar of laughter. Mia once again rolled her eyes at this, thinking that Malfoy was absolutely pathetic in making fun of someone else's pain. They all ignored him as they sat down next to Fred and George, who passed them all their schedules. At seeing Harry's face, they asked what was wrong, and Mia just pointed out Malfoy, who was doing a stupid impression of having a fainting fit, falling onto the table.

"That little git," George said calmly. "He wasn't so cocky last night when the Dementors were down at our end of the train. Came running into our compartment, didn't he, Fred?"

"Nearly wet himself," said Fred, causing Mia to giggle.

"I wasn't too happy myself," said George. "They're horrible things, those Dementors…"

"Sort of freeze your insides, don't they?" said Fred.

"You didn't pass out, though, did you?" said Harry in a low voice.

"Forget it, Harry," said George bracingly. "Dad had to go out to Azkaban one time, remember, Fred? And he said it was the worst place he'd ever been, he came back all weak and shaking…they suck the happiness out of a place, Dementors. Most of the prisoners go mad in there."

"Anyway, we'll see how happy Malfoy looks after our first Quidditch match," said Fred. "Gryffindor versus Slytherin, first game of the season, remember?"

"I'd like to see you guys wipe that smile off his face and crush him into the ground," Mia said, stabbing her sausage with her fork. While she ate, she took a look at her schedule and realized that she was starting her new subjects. As she scanned through her classes, she saw that her Ancient Runes class started tomorrow, while Care of Magical Creatures started that afternoon after lunch. She felt a little put out at that—Harry, Ron and Hermione were starting their Divination class first thing, and so Mia found herself with a free hour before she was to meet up with them for Transfiguration.

"You have a free period Mia?" Hermione asked, leaning over to look at her schedule.

"Yeah," said Mia, glaring at the paper. "This means I could have had an extra hour to sleep! What am I supposed to do while you guys are in class?"

They finished eating their breakfast, and once people in the hall started to file out, Ron looked at his watch and suggested they head off to Divination. Mia decided that she would spend her free period by talking a stroll around the castle, and stood up from her seat to accompany her friends until they reached the marble staircase. Slinging her bag over her shoulder, Mia followed them out of the hall, once again passing Malfoy, who pretended to faint again as they walked by, causing the Slytherins to burst out laughing. Feeling annoyed, Mia took out her wand and muttered a spell under her breath, aiming her wand at the blonde boy. Malfoy's laughter stopped instantly as his legs started doing a wild dance of their own accord, making him fall into the table and knock over plates of food and goblets of pumpkin juice, spilling it all down his front. Mia smirked and placed her wand back inside her pocket while Ron and Harry tried hard to hide their snickers. When they reached the entrance hall, Mia followed her friends up the staircase and when they reached the top, she bid them goodbye as they went right and she went left.

Mia hummed softly to herself as she walked down the corridor, wondering what she was going to do until Transfiguration class. She had already read the first couple chapters in all of her school books, so she knew what to expect for the first day, and she didn't have any homework yet, so there was no need for her to go to the library. As she continued walking, she passed by many other students, and she climbed a couple more floors until she finally decided what she wanted to do when she came upon an alcove that wasn't very far from the Astronomy tower. There was a small bench inside next to the window, and Mia plopped herself down on it, setting her bag by her feet. She rummaged through it for a minute until she took out what she was looking, which was a hardback book titled _The Morning Gift _on the cover. She had found it in a Muggle bookshop, and it had just come out that year. She didn't have very many books to read just for fun, so she decided to try it out, using some of the money she earned at Mrs. Brugger's to buy it. Mia studied the cover, which had a young woman sitting on a bed, staring out of her window, appearing deep into thought. Based on the summary, this story was about a young woman who was trapped in Vienna during WWII (to wizards, it was the war against the dark wizard Grindlewald), and she agreed to a marriage with a college professor in order to guarantee their safe crossing to England. The more time they spent together, the more attracted they became towards each other. It sparked Mia's interest, and so, with her feet pulled up, her back against the wall, and the small bits of sunlight shining on the page, Mia opened the book and began to read.

Mia spent her entire free period reading, so engrossed in the story that she was able to tune out everything around her, even Peeves as he bounced up and down through the corridor. Her eyes drank in every word and her expressions varied every time she turned a page. This was her first time reading a romance novel, and it wasn't what she expected—yet that was exactly what drew her into it. Mia had just started the third chapter when her little bubble burst from the sound of the bell going off, signaling the end of class. Mia suddenly realized that was a great walk from the Transfiguration classroom, and in order to get there on time she would have to speed-walk through the corridors. She quickly snatched up her bag and got up off the bench. Trying to stuff the book back into her bag, Mia left the alcove and into the corridor—where she sacked right into someone. Both of them let out a yelp of surprise and Mia dropped her bag onto the floor, a couple of her books falling out.

"Oh, I'm so sorry!" Mia said as she straightened out. "I didn't see—"

Mia suddenly stopped talking as she looked at the person she had just run into. It was boy, and based on his blue and bronze colored tie and eagle patch on his robes, he was in Ravenclaw. However, that wasn't what Mia was really focused on. This boy looked about her age, maybe a year or two older, and he had the most amazing baby blue eyes she had ever seen. He stood about a head taller than her, and his skin was a nice olive color that went perfectly with his hair, which was so dark that it was almost black, yet Mia could still see the brown in it if she looked hard enough. Mia had never really given boys a thought, but a small part of her mind couldn't help but think how in credibly handsome he was. After a few seconds Mia felt a blush on her cheeks when she realized that she was staring at him.

"I-I'm sorry," she said again, bending down to pick up her bag and books. "I wasn't watching where I was going."

"It's okay," the boy said, bending down with her and picking up one of her books, handing it to her with a smile that made her stomach do cartwheels.

"Thanks," Mia mumbled, still blushing furiously. "I really am sorry about that…"

"Don't worry, no harm done," the boy said with a shrug. "You in a hurry to class?"

"Um, yeah," said Mia. "Transfiguration—I don't want to think about what would happen if I'm late and run into Filch."

"I don't think anyone does," the boy agreed, chuckling. "We both should probably get going. I'll see you around Mia."

"How do you know my name?" Mia asked.

"I think everyone knows you and your friends' names by now," the boy answered with a wink, making Mia blush even more. He turned around and walked on down the corridor, leaving Mia speechless. She just managed to unstick her throat and call out to him, "You never told me your name!"

The boy stopped and looked over his shoulder at her, giving her a coy smile.

"It's Noah," he said before continuing walking through the corridor, which Mia now realized was filling with students on their way to their next class. Mia was frozen to the spot, her mind going over what had just happened while she felt a weird sensation in her stomach. However she was able to snap herself out of it and then took off towards Professor McGonagall's classroom. By the time she finally got there, there was only two more minutes until the late bell would go off, and Professor McGonagall peered at her from her desk.

"You were almost late Miss Thatcher," she said. "Be more careful next time."

"Yes Professor," Mia said going over to take her seat at the back of the class next to Hermione, who was sitting in front of Harry and Ron. Hermione was giving her an inquiring look, and Mia wondered if her face was still red.

"Where were you?" Hermione asked.

"Nowhere," Mia replied, taking out her books and setting them on her desk. Hermione gave her a disbelieving expression and Mia then whispered "Later," before turning her attention to the front of the class.

Professor McGonagall was explaining to the class all about Animagi (wizards who could transform at will into animals), but Mia wasn't paying that much attention. Her thoughts kept wandering back to Noah, and no matter how much she didn't want to, she couldn't help the small smile that spread across her face. However, she did put her thoughts off long enough to see that most of the class was throwing furtive glances towards Harry, and she didn't have any clue why. Just as she was about to write a note asking him what was wrong, Professor McGonagall turned into a tabby cat before their eyes but quickly changed back when no one took notice.

"Really, what has got into you all today?" said Professor McGonagall. "Not that it matters, but that's the first time my transformation's not got applause from a class."

Everybody's heads turned toward Harry again, but nobody spoke, and Mia was really starting to worry about what was going on.

"Please, Professor," said Hermione, raising her hand. "We've just had our first Divination class, and we were reading the tea leaves, and—"

"Ah, of course," said Professor McGonagall, suddenly frowning. "There is no need to say any more, Miss Granger. Tell me, which of you will be dying this year?"

Mia's mouth dropped open and she whipped around to look at Harry, now realizing why everyone was staring at him as if he were on his deathbed.

"Me," said Harry.

"I see," said Professor McGonagall, fixing Harry with her beady eyes. "Then you should know, Potter, that Sybill Trelawney has predicted the death of one student a year since she arrived at this school. None of them has died yet. Seeing death omens is her favorite way of greeting a new class. If it were not for the fact that I never speak ill of my colleagues—"

Professor McGonagall broke off, and they saw that her nostrils had gone white.

"Divination is one of the most imprecise branches of magic," she went on. "I shall not conceal from you that I have very little patience with it. True Seers are very rare, and Professor Trelawney…anyway, you look in excellent health to me, Potter, so you will excuse me if I don't let you off homework today. I assure you that if you die, you need not hand it in."

Hermione laughed but Mia still felt a little nervous. Harry has had near death experiences since they had started school, and a small part of her was worried that this was not a coincidence. No one said anything else about the Divination class for the rest of the period, and when the bell sounded, everyone got up from their desks and herded out into the corridor.

"Harry, what exactly happened in Divination?" Mia asked him as they walked to the Great Hall for lunch. Harry retold the story of how they were reading tea leaves and when Professor Trelawney looked into his cup, she supposedly saw the Grim, a huge black dog that was known to be the omen of death. This information didn't make Mia feel much better as they sat down at the Gryffindor table together.

"Mia don't worry so much," Hermione said, seeing her anxious face. "That class is rubbish, even Professor McGonagall said so. Professor Trelawney probably just picked out Harry as the prime subject for her little façade."

"Well, I guess you're right," Mia said, turning to said boy. "You're not planning on dying anytime soon are you?"

"Let me check my calendar and I'll get back to you," Harry answered, rolling his eyes but with an amused smile.

"Good, because if you did I would perform an illegal ritual to bring you back just I can kill you again," Mia stated matter-of-factly, making herself a ham sandwich.

"Glad to know you love me so much Mia."

"Anytime," Mia said brightly, causing Harry to laugh a little.

"Ron, cheer up," said Hermione, moving her attention towards the troubled redhead. "It's like I just told Mia, you heard what Professor McGonagall said."

Ron spooned stew onto his plate and picked up his fork but didn't start.

"Harry," he said, in a low, serious voice, "You haven't seen a great black dog anywhere, have you?"

"Yeah, I have," said Harry. "I saw one the night I left the Dursleys'."

Ron let his fork fall with a clatter.

"Probably a stray," said Hermione calmly.

"Hermione, if Harry's seen a Grim, that's—that's bad," Ron said, staring at Hermione as if she were mad. "My—my uncle Bilius saw one and—and he died twenty-four hours later!"

"Coincidence," said Hermione airily, pouring herself some pumpkin juice.

"You don't know what you're talking about!" said Ron, starting to get angry. "Grims scare the living daylights out of most wizards!"

"There you are, then," said Hermione in a superior tone. "They see the Grim and die of fright. The Grim's not an omen, it's the cause of death! And Harry's still with us because he's not stupid enough to see one and think, right, well, I'd better kick the bucket then!"

Mia bit her lip to keep herself from giggling. She honestly didn't think that was the best thing to do with the way Ron and Hermione were glaring at each other.

"I think Divination seems very woolly," she said, taking out her Arithmancy book and flipping through the pages. "A lot of guesswork, if you ask me."

"There was nothing woolly about the Grim in that cup!" said Ron hotly.

"You didn't seem quite so confident when you were telling Harry it was a sheep," said Hermione coolly, causing Mia to snort and hide it with a cough.

"Professor Trelawney said you didn't have the right aura! You just don't like being bad at something for a change!"

Mia knew instantly that he had touched a nerve. Hermione slammed her Arithmancy book down on the table so hard that bits of meat and carrot flew everywhere.

"If being good at Divination means I have to pretend to see death omens in a lump of tea leaves, I'm not sure I'll be studying it much longer! That lesson was absolute rubbish compared with my Arithmancy class!" Hermione snapped before snatching up her bag and storming away.

"What's she talking about?" Ron said to Harry. "She hasn't been to an Arithmancy class yet."

"You really shouldn't have said that though Ron," said Mia.

"Don't tell me you're siding with her!" he exclaimed.

"I'm not," Mia said calmly. "I see this from both your points of view—you're worried about Harry because the Grim is obviously a big deal, and supposedly a lot of people who see it die. Then again, Hermione could be right, the Grim just causing people to get scared out of their wits and die without actually harming them at all. Think about it Harry saw a black dog the night he left his house—don't you think he should be dead by now if that's the case?"

"This still isn't something to scoff about!" he said, jabbing at his stew with his fork. "She just doesn't want to admit she's wrong!"

Mia sighed but didn't press the subject. They finished their lunch and then met up with Hermione in the entrance hall to go down to Hagrid's hut for their first Care of Magical Creatures class. Ron and Hermione weren't speaking to each other, so Mia shared a look with Harry and they silently agreed to try to talk to them. Harry went with Ron a couple paces ahead while Mia stayed behind with Hermione.

"He didn't mean that Hermione," she said. "He's just worried about the Grim being real—"

"If Ron wants to be stupid enough to believe that every black dog he comes across if the Grim than that's on him!" Hermione hissed, her eyes still blazing as she glared at him from behind. Mia didn't say anything as they continued to walk down the grassy slopes, knowing she should give Hermione a couple minutes to calm down. When they were fairly close to Hagrid's house, Hermione took a breath, relaxed her stiff posture and turned to look at Mia with a curious expression.

"Anyway, what kept you so long from getting to class today?" she asked. Mia instantly felt her cheeks go pink and she looked down at the ground.

"Um, well," she muttered. "I was reading in an alcove and I realized that I was running a little behind in getting to class. I hurried out of the alcove but I wasn't watching where I was going, and I ran into someone."

"Someone? Who?" asked Hermione, Mia hesitated in answering, her face glowing a brilliant shade of red by this point. Hermione stared at her in confusion for a moment before realization dawned on her and her mouth dropped open, her eyes as wide as tennis balls.

"Oh my God!" she squealed. "You ran into a _boy, _didn't you?!"

"Keep it down!" Mia hissed.

"Tell me everything!" Hermione whispered excitedly, a grin on her face. Mia just groaned as they made their way to Hagrid's front garden. She knew that Hermione was never going to leave her alone about this.

**Read and review please!**


	5. Greatest Fears

**Hi guys! I'm sorry it's been a while since I updated but this chapter kept giving me a hard time. I rewrote it three times and I'm still not that crazy about it. I'm not sure if this is any good, but I'll leave that up to me amazing readers to decide. So if it's not that great, just let me know, and I will do better for the next chapter. And I'm sorry if the end is kind of rushed, but it's very late and I'm exhausted, I just wanted to finish this chapter before going to bed.**

**Well, here's chapter five, I hope it's satisfactory. Any questions, comments, just let me know, and please, please, review! Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: All things Harry Potter are not mine. **

Chapter Five: Greatest Fears

MPOV

Unfortunately, Hargid's first lesson didn't go exactly as planned. Once they had reached his house, Hagrid led them off to a paddock just inside the Forbidden Forrest, and then he brought out a dozen of the most bizarre creatures that Mia had ever seen. Hagrid said that they were Hippogriffs, and they all had the bodies, hind legs, and tails of horses, but the front legs, wings, and heads of what seemed to be giant eagles, with steel-colored beaks and large, brilliant orange eyes. There were all a different color, and Hagrid tired them up to a fence before instructing the class on how to handle them. While Hagrid made it clear that you should never insult a Hippogriff, Malfoy, Crabbe and Goyle were not paying attention, whispering in the very back, and Mia had the strongest suspicion that they were plotting a way to ruin the lesson.

Mia's suspicions were confirmed not fifteen minutes later. Harry, who was the only one brave enough to walk forward, bowed down to a stormy grey Hippogriff named Buckbeak. Buckbeak bowed back, and after Harry patted his beak, Hagrid lifted him out and set him down on Buckbeak's back before slapping his hindquarters. Buckbeak and Harry had taken off into the air and were flying around the paddock. Mia and some others clapped at Harry's success and she giggled at the sight of her friend's face as eh and the Hippogriff landed back to the ground. It was obvious that Harry wasn't too fond of the ride and would rather have his broomstick. However, seeing Harry ride Buckbeak made everyone else want to approach the other Hippogriffs. While Mia was bowing to an inky black one named Midnight, Malfoy was petting Buckbeak with a smug smile on his face. But the smile vanished in half a second after Malfoy called Buckbeak a great ugly brute. Before anyone could see it happen, Buckbeak had reared back and then used his razor sharp talons to slash at Malfoy. Many girls screamed, and Ron had to pull Mia out of the way as Buckbeak continued to go after Malfoy. Hagrid was able to calm things down, but Malfoy had to be taken to the hospital.

Hagrid hadn't been seen at dinner, and, worried that he might have been fired, Mia, Harry, Ron and Hermione had gone down to see him after dark, hoping that he was alright. Hagrid had been drinking, and he said that the school board had been contacted, and of course, Lucius Malfoy was causing a riot. Mia was beyond angry—as far as she could tell, Malfoy had only gotten some cuts on his arm that Madame Pomfrey would be able to heal up in less than a minute. She felt truly sorry for Hagrid, she had wanted his first lesson to be successful, and Malfoy just had to go and mess everything up. They were able to cheer and sober Hagrid up before he dragged them all back up to the castle, scolding them for wandering out so late.

The next couple of days went by smoothly, and Mia was starting to get used to her school schedule once again. She found her Ancient Runes class absolutely fascinating—her teacher, Professor Babbling, taught them the basic guide to solving magical codes, and then gave them a cryptic message to decipher by the next class. Professor Babbling had told them that by the time the Christmas holidays came around, they would even be looking at some samples of the scripts that Merlin himself had written back during the time of King Arthur. And in Herbology, Professor Sprout had assigned them a short essay to be handed in next week about the _Stella Floris_, a flower that is planted from the dust of a fallen star and only blooms at night. Neville in particular was excited to hear that a colleague of Professor Sprout's managed to get his hands on a group of them and is letting her bring them in for observation. However, it wasn't only classes that Mia was focused on at the moment.

She couldn't understand how, but ever since she had met Noah, she seems to be seeing him wherever she went. She would sneak glances at him in the Great Hall, and she would blush a little every time she saw him walking in the corridors on the way to class. Sometimes he would catch her eye and give her a wink and a smile, making her blush even more and scurry away quickly in the other direction.

"Mia, he is so cute!" Hermione whispered at one of these times while they were on their way to Potions class. "Why don't you ever say hi to him?"

"Hermione are you crazy? He already thinks I'm a weirdo, he probably doesn't even want to talk to me," Mia mumbled, holding her books close to her chest.

"Considering the way he smiles at you, I highly doubt it," Hermione said.

"I don't know what you see in him Mia," Ron said from behind them. "He looks like a prissy rich boy if you ask me."

"He's not prissy, he's very sweet," Mia said.

"How would you know that? You hardly even know him," Harry said, a severely displeased frown on his face.

"You don't know him either," Mia said, a frown of her own coming across her face as she furrowed her eyebrows at him. For some reason unknown to her, Harry didn't like the fact that Mia liked Noah, and although he didn't really make it obvious, Mia could tell that it bothered him. Every time Mia would blush and Noah would wink, Harry would scowl and glare at the Ravenclaw. Mia honestly didn't know what was up with him—she knew he was probably being protective of her, but his negative comments on Noah was really getting to her.

"He was really nice to me," Mia pointed out.

"Yeah, one time," Harry countered. "How do you know he's not just flirting because he might think you're pretty?"

"What are you saying?" Mia asked, turning sharply and giving him a hard stare. "That boys think I'm ugly?"

"That's not what I meant!" Harry said. "I have a bad feeling about him and I just don't think he's right for you."

"We're not even together," Mia said.

"But he likes you though," Harry said, making it sound as if the idea annoyed him greatly. "He's too old, he's probably some sort of womanizer."

"How can you say that when you don't even know him?" Mia said.

"How can you defend him when _you _don't even know him?" Harry shot back.

"Why are you acting like this? Why is it such a big deal that I like someone?" Mia said.

"You're my best friend! I don't want some git trying to make a move on you!"

"I'm a big girl Harry, I can take care of myself!"

"Of course you can, and I'll be right beside you making sure no one gets within ten feet of you!"

Mia was about to retort, but she didn't after glancing over at Ron and Hermione. Ron looked stumped and Hermione was looking nervously back and forth between her and Harry. It was then that Mia realized they had finally reached the corridor outside Snape's classroom, and she and Harry were standing opposite each other, giving each other fierce glares.

"Whoa," Ron stage whispered. "This is so weird…you guys never argue like this!"

"Yes we do!" Mia and Harry said in unison before glaring at each other again. Mia huffed and then she turned on her heel and walked down the corridor, fuming. As soon as she walked in the class, she found herself a table near the front, where Neville was already seated. She roughly set her bag down on the floor next to as she took her seat.

"Hi Mia," said Neville.

"Hey Nev," Mia mumbled.

"Are you okay?" he asked, seeing her expression. "You look a little upset."

"I'm all right Neville," Mia sighed. "Just a little frustrated with someone…"

At that moment Hermione came inside with Harry and Ron. While the boys went over to sit at the next table, Hermione came over and took a seat next to Mia.

"You okay?" Hermione asked.

"I'm fine," Mia muttered. "I just don't know what Harry's problem is."

"You were in a fight with Harry?" Neville asked, seeming astonished.

"Not really, we just…had a small disagreement," Mia answered. She looked over to see Hermione staring at her blankly.

"What?" said Mia.

"Honestly, you two are so thick," Hermione said, rolling her eyes. Mia furrowed her eyebrows and she didn't have a chance to ask Hermione what she was talking about because at that moment Snape walked into the classroom and everyone fell silent as the lesson began. He gave them his usual sneer before waving his wand at the board, were the instructions for their potion of the day began to write themselves out.

"Today you will be brewing a Shrinking Solution," Snape said. "You will read the passage on page 226 through 242 and then write a two paragraph on its functions and main purposes before you start making it—now get to work!"

"Oh no," Neville groaned. Mia felt sorry for him—Potions was Neville's worst subject, and Snape's constant bullying didn't make it any easier for him.

"Don't worry Neville," she said comfortingly. "Just make sure you read the instructions carefully after you write your summary and try your best—I'll help you if you have trouble."

"Thanks Mia," Neville said gratefully before taking out his book and flipping to the right page. Mia took out her own book and soon everyone fell into silence as they read, not a single sound being heard throughout the dungeon. After a while people took out their quills and started writing on their parchment, determined to get started on the potion, as it would take up most of their class time. Hermione and Mia managed to finish their summaries around the same time and then they instantly set to work, with Hermione going over to the cupboard to get the ingredients for their cauldrons while Mia scanned over the instructions. Hermione came back to their table with everything they needed and began to measure out some beetle eyes on the scale.

"You know you can't stay mad at him Mia," Hermione said as small chatter started to break out in the classroom.

"Yes I can," Mia replied stubbornly. "He's being an idiot."

"I'm not going to argue there, he is being a little unfair, but this is a stupid little thing to get angry over," Hermione reasoned. "He's just watching out for you."

"He's giving no good reason to hate Noah," Mia said, cutting up her daisy roots. "And who is he to tell me who I like and don't like?"

"But you don't really know him that well," Hermione pointed out.

"Mione, I don't need you against me too!"

"I'm not against you Mia," Hermione said patiently. "I'm just saying that this is not worth arguing with your best friend over."

Mia said nothing, frowning as she continued to cut up her roots for the potion. Not another word was said on the subject as Mia and Hermione kept working, watching as their potion simmered when it needed to and turned an icy blue at the proper time. About halfway through the lesson, the door to the classroom opened and Mia looked up to see Malfoy walking in, pulling on a brave face as if he had just returned from a battle, his arm in a sling. Mia scowled heavily as Pansy Parkinson instantly came forward and cooed over Malfoy's "injury," and the sight of it made Mia want to be sick. Malfoy sat down at Harry and Ron's table, which was to the left of Mia and Hermione's, and Mia scowled even more as she heard Malfoy order Ron to do all the work for his potion. He even made it so Ron had to switch his perfectly cut up roots for the roughly cut ones that he did for Malfoy after blabbing to Snape like a little cry baby. He even had Snape force Harry to do some of the work as well, and Mia mentally imagined burning a hole through the back of Malfoy's head with her eyes.

"Seen your pal Hagrid lately?" she heard Malfoy ask them quietly once Snape had walked away.

"None of your business," said Ron.

"I'm afraid he won't be a teacher much longer," said Malfoy in a tone of mock sorrow. "Father's not very happy about my injury—"

"Keep talking, Malfoy, and I'll give you a real injury," snarled Ron.

"–he's complained to the school governors. And to the Ministry of Magic. Father's got a lot of influence, you know. And a lasting injury like this, who knows if my arm'll ever be the same again?"

"So that's why you're putting it on," said Harry, his voice shaking in anger. "To try to get Hagrid fired."

"Well," said Malfoy, still quietly. "Partly, Potter. But there are other benefits too. Weasley, slice my caterpillars for me."

Mia narrowed her eyes, feeling her cheeks flare in rage, and she grabbed a few extra dead caterpillars from the table and hissed over at Malfoy to get his attention. As soon as he turned his head and once she made sure Snape wasn't looking, she flung the caterpillars at him, hitting him right in the face and one even went part way into his mouth, causing him to gag slightly and sputter.

"There's your caterpillars Malfoy!" Mia snarled at him. "And if you don't shut up about Hagrid I'll turn you into a leech and throw you into your own cauldron!"

Malfoy glared at her and she straightened up in her seat just as Snape came back over to their table, standing by Neville, who staring up at him fearfully. Mia looked over at Neville's cauldron and she was discouraged to see that instead of turning from blue to acid green like hers, the potion was orange.

"Orange, Longbottom," said Snape, ladling some up and allowing to splash back into the cauldron, so that everyone could see. "Orange. Tell me, boy, does anything penetrate that thick skull of yours? Didn't you hear me say, quite clearly, that only one cat spleen was needed? Didn't I state plainly that a dash of leech juice would suffice? What do I have to do to make you understand, Longbottom?"

Neville was pink and trembling. He looked as though he was on the verge of tears and Mia felt her anger reach a new peak as she glared at the potions master. First Harry, then Malfoy and now Snape. Why was everyone making her angry all of a sudden?

"Please, sir," said Hermione. "Please, I could help Neville put it right—"

"I don't remember asking you to show off, Miss Granger," said Snape coldly, and Hermione went as pink as Neville.

"She wasn't showing off!" Mia snapped, having enough. "She was just trying to help since you wouldn't!"

The class all gasped and gaped at her as Snape turned his cold black eyes to her.

"Twenty points from Gryffindor," Snape said in a low, dangerous voice. "And you will do well never to speak to me in such a way again Miss Thatcher, or you will serve detention with me for the rest of the week."

Mia kept her mouth shut as she kept glaring. Snape stared at her for another moment before turning back to Neville.

"Longbottom, at the end of this lesson we will feed a few drops of this potion to your toad and see what happens. Perhaps that will encourage you to do it properly."

With that being said, Snape moved away, leaving Neville breathless with fear.

"Help me!" he moaned to Hermione.

The rest of the class seemed to drag on by slowly, and Mia kept her entire focus on her potion, wanting to brew it to perfection while trying to figure out what was wrong with her. She never usually lets Malfoy get her that riled up, and the more she thought about it, the more horrified she became when she realized that she had snapped at a teacher. Sure Snape deserved it, but she had never done anything like that before! It was like her emotions were taking a ride on a roller coaster and she couldn't figure out why. Also, the more she thought about it, the more guilty she felt about arguing with Harry earlier. Maybe she did overreact quite a bit. Harry has always looked out for her, it would be normal for him to be a little overprotective, right? Mia pushed these thoughts away as she continued to work on her potion, while Hermione was whispering instructions to Neville out of the corner of her mouth. Glancing over, she saw Malfoy speaking to Harry and Ron, but this time he was talking much too quietly for her to hear anything. Whatever he was saying, it seemed to be annoying Harry and aggravating Ron.

Once the lesson was over, Snape did a brief check on everyone's option to see who did it right before gathering everyone around Neville's potion. Mia watched anxiously as Snape took Neville's toad, Trevor, into his hand and then took a spoonful of the now-green potion, trickling a couple drops down Trevor's throat. There was a small pop and then Trevor transformed into a tiny little tadpole in Snape's palm. The Gryffindors burst into applause and Snape, looking sour, pulled a small bottle from the pocket of his robe, poured a few drops on top of Trevor, and he reappeared suddenly, fully grown.

"Five points from Gryffindor," he said, which wiped the smiles from every face. "I told you not to help him, Miss Granger. Class dismissed."

Everyone gathered up their things and then herded out the door. Harry and Ron were stuffing their books in their bags as they waited by the door while Mia and Hermione packed up all their things.

"Are you sure you're all right, Mia?" Hermione asked in concern. "I can't believe you snapped at a teacher like that! What were you thinking?"

"I wasn't," Mia replied. "I honestly don't know what's wrong with me Hermione, everyone's just been making me angry, and my emotions feel like they're on overdrive or something. This has never happened before."

Hermione stared at Mia for a moment before asking quietly, "Have you been feeling strange at all the past few days? More tired than usual? Didn't you say that your stomach hurt last night?"

"Yes," Mia said slowly, not quite sure what Hermione was getting at. Sure, she was a little tired, but that was just because she was getting used to being up early again and studying. And her stomach did hurt a lot before going to bed the previous night, but she just blamed the food. Hermione's eyes seemed to widen in understanding, and she laughed a little.

"What's so funny?" asked Mia.

"Mia, I…my gosh, I really don't know what to say…I think I know what's been going on with you," Hermione said softly.

"What?"

"Well, as my mom would say, I think you've finally become a young woman," Hermione said, looking at her pointedly. Mia just stared blankly at her, not having a clue what she meant, but then, as is she had been struck by lightning, she felt her eyes widen and her mouth dropped open as she realized what Hermione was saying. Could this mean…does she really have—

Without another word, Mia snatched up her things and then bolted from the classroom, right past Harry and Ron.

"Where are you going?" Ron called after her, bewildered.

"Bathroom!" Mia called back, never slowing down. "I'll meet you guys at lunch!"

HPOV

Harry stared after Mia as she dashed down the corridor and around the corner, out of sight. He was starting to get a little concerned. What was up with her?

"What's wrong with her?" Harry asked Hermione as she came over to them. "Why does she need to go to the bathroom?"

"She just needs to check on something," Hermione replied vaguely as they started walking down the corridor together. "It's nothing to worry about."

"Nothing to worry about?" said Ron. "She's gone mental! She fights with Harry, she throws dead caterpillars at Malfoy and she talks back to Snape! Mind you, that was brilliant but that's not like her!"

"She's just feeling a little emotional right now," Hermione explained. "She'll be fine."

Harry and Ron both looked like they weren't too sure of that, but they let the subject drop as they started to climb the staircase, with Ron complaining about Snape. Harry only half-listened, his mind still on the argument he had with Mia. He knew he was being ridiculous, and he knew he should apologize to her, but he couldn't help it—there's something about that Noah kid that set him on edge. He just wished the others would see it too. But he brought up his case in the wrong way, and he knew that. Harry sighed heavily—he and Mia rarely ever fought, if at all, but sometimes their arguments could get pretty heated. He didn't like arguing with her, but he figured no friendship was perfect. He brought his mind back to the present to hear Ron still seething about Snape.

"Five points from Gryffindor because the potion was all right! Why didn't you lie, Hermione? You should've said Neville did it all by himself!" Ron ranted, turning around to look at her.

Only Hermione wasn't there. They were now at the top of the staircase, but Hermione had somehow vanished, and it was now only the two of them.

"She was right behind us," said Ron, frowning. "Where did she go?"

"There she is," Harry said after they looked around for a few seconds. Hermione was hurrying up the staircase, and she seemed to be tucking something underneath her robes. When she reached them, she looked a little flushed and she was breathing more heavily than a minute before.

"What?" she said when they continued staring at her.

"How did you do that?" said Ron.

"Do what?"

"One minute you were right behind us, the next moment, you were back at the bottom of the stairs again."

"What?" Hermione looked slightly confused. "Oh—I had to go back for something. Oh no—"

A seam had split on Hermione's bag and some of her books were starting to fall out. Upon closer inspection, Harry saw that the bag was full to the brim with large and heavy books.

"Why are you carrying all these around with you?" Ron asked her.

"You know how many subjects I'm taking," said Hermione breathlessly. "Couldn't hold these for me, could you?"

"But—" Ron was turning over the books she had handed him, looking at the covers. "You haven't got any of these subjects today. It's only Defense Against the Dark Arts this afternoon."

"Oh yes," said Hermione vaguely, but she packed all the books back into her bag just the same. "I hope there's something good for lunch, I'm starving."

She started to lead the way over to the Great Hall doors, with Ron staring after her.

"D'you get the feeling Hermione's not telling us something?"

…..

Mia didn't return at all during lunch, and Harry was starting to get slightly more worried about her. What had happened? Was she sick? He kept thinking these thoughts as they made their way to the Defense Against the Dark Arts classroom. However, his troubling thoughts left him when he walked inside to see Mia seated at one of the desks, with her books already out and looking calmer than she had been earlier. As they approached, she looked up and smiled at him, gesturing at the seat next to her. He took it while Ron and Hermione sat behind them.

"Where were you Mia?" he asked.

"I had to go to the hospital wing," Mia answered, a faint blush coming to her cheeks.

"Is everything all right?"

"Yeah, everything's fine, Madame Pomfrey gave me something that helped a lot, so I'm all better now," she said. "Listen, Harry, I'm sorry I blew up at you like that. I was just getting angry and well—"

"I'm the one who should be sorry," he interrupted. "I knew I wasn't being fair to you, it's just you're my best friend Mia, and I don't want you getting hurt. I'm not completely sure about that Noah guy…"

"Harry, you probably won't like any of the guys I date," Mia pointed out.

"Who said anything about dating?" Harry said with a frown, causing Mia to laugh and roll her eyes at the same time.

"Harry, there is no dating going on, at least not yet. I just like him, and even though I doubt he'll want to go out with someone like me, I just don't want you talking so low about him all the time."

"You should hear the things he says about him in the dorm," Ron said, earning himself a sharp whack to the back of the head by Hermione.

"Ow! What was that for?!"

"Stay out of their business!" Hermione hissed.

"I'm not happy about the idea, but he would be mental not to like you," Harry admitted grudgingly. "You're amazing—no guy is good enough for you."

"Mate come on, don't get all girly on me—_ow!_—Okay, Hermione I'll shut up!"

"Harry, I appreciate you looking out for me," Mia said, placing a hand on his shoulder. "But you have to let me fight my own battle sometimes."

"Doesn't mean I have to like it," Harry said. "I just want to be perfectly clear that if he does anything I'll use every curse I know on him and lock him in a broom cupboard."

"Sounds fair enough," Mia said, smiling also. Harry smiled back at her and the two of them settled themselves in while the rest of the class took their seats. Professor Lupin wasn't there yet, so they talked for a little while, and Mia asked him what Malfoy was talking to him and Ron about in Potions. Just as Harry was about to answer her, the door opened and Professor Lupin strolled in, looking more healthy than he had on the train. Professor Lupin smiled at them all in greeting as he set his briefcase down on the teacher's desk.

"Good afternoon," he said. "Would you please put all your books back in your bags? Today will be a practical lesson. You will need only your wands."

Harry was surprised, as was everyone else. They had never had a practical Defense Against the Dark Arts class before, unless you counted last year when their old teacher had brought a cage full of pixies to class and set them loose. Once everyone had put their books away, Professor Lupin quickly went through roll call, and then he told them all to stand and follow him out of the classroom. Harry shared a curious look with Mia before they joined Ron and Hermione, following the rest of the class as Professor Lupin led them all down the corridor and around the corner where the first thing they saw was Peeves the Poltergeist, who was floating upside down in midair and stuffing the nearest keyhole with chewing gum. When they approached, Peeves took one look at Lupin and grinned widely, bouncing from side to side in excitement, as if he had just laid eyes on an old friend.

_"Loony, loopy Lupin,"_ Peeves sang. _"Loony, loopy Lupin, loony, loopy Lupin—"_

Everyone looked quickly at Professor Lupin to see how he would react to this, but to their surprise, he was still smiling.

"I'd take that gum out of the keyhole if I were you, Peeves," he said pleasantly. "Mr. Filch won't be able to get in to his brooms."

In response, Peeves blew a loud, wet raspberry and then started cackling madly. Professor Lupin gave a small sigh and took out his wand.

"This is a useful little spell," he told the class over his shoulder. "Please watch closely."

He raised the wand to shoulder height, pointed it at Peeves, and said, _"Waddiwasi!"_ In the next instant, the chewing gum that Peeves was pushing through the keyhole shot straight towards him and flew down his left nostril, causing the Poltergeist to give a loud shout and then fly away, yelling out curses as he went.

"Cool, sir!" said Dean Thomas in amazement.

"Thank you, Dean," said Professor Lupin, putting his wand away again. "Shall we proceed?"

Professor Lupin continued leading through the corridors until they came outside the staffroom. Professor Lupin held the door open and ushered them all inside. As he entered, Harry saw that most of the chairs in the room had been pushed up against the wall, and some of the tables had been moved as well, so there was a big empty space in the middle of the room, with an old wardrobe standing at the far wall opposite them. The room was empty except for one other person, which unfortunately was Snape. He sneered at them all as they entered and he stood up from the armchair he had been sitting in just as Professor Lupin came in and started to shut the door behind him.

"Leave it open, Lupin. I'd rather not witness this," he said. He strode past the class and then turned to look over his shoulder

"Possibly no one's warned you, Lupin, but this class contains Neville Longbottom. I would advise you not to entrust him with anything difficult. Not unless Miss Granger is hissing instructions in his ear."

Neville went scarlet and looked down at the floor. Mia glared at Snape and she opened her mouth, but Harry quickly stepped on her foot to shut her up.

"Are you asking for a death wish? Don't push it," he whispered. Mia bit her lip and didn't say a word, although she gave Snape such a fiery and piercing stare that Harry was wondering why he wasn't falling dead on the spot. However, Professor Lupin didn't seem troubled by Snape's statement.

"I was hoping that Neville would assist me with the first stage of the operation," he said to Snape. "And I am sure he will perform it admirably."

Neville's face went, if possible, even redder. Snape's lip curled into another nasty sneer, but he didn't say a word as he left, shutting the door with a snap.

"Now, then," said Professor Lupin, beckoning the class toward the wardrobe, which started to wobble as they came closer to it, as if something inside was bursting to come out. Some people jumped back in alarm, including Mia, and she shifted a little closer to Harry.

"Nothing to worry about," said Professor Lupin. "There's a Boggart in there."

Most people seemed to feel that this was something to worry about. Neville gave Professor Lupin a look of pure terror, Seamus Finnigan eyed the now rattling doorknob apprehensively, and Harry saw that Mia looked nervous.

"Boggarts like dark, enclosed spaces," said Professor Lupin. "Wardrobes, the gap beneath beds, the cupboards under sinks—I've even met one that had lodged itself in a grandfather clock. This one moved in yesterday afternoon, and I asked the headmaster if the staff would leave it to give my third years some practice. So, the first question we must ask ourselves is, what is a Boggart?"

Despite her nerves, Mia raised her hand, along with Hermione.

"Yes?" Professor Lupin said, pointing to Mia.

"It's a shape-shifter," Mia said. "It can take the shape of whatever it thinks will frighten us most. That's what makes them so terrifying to most wizards."

"Couldn't have put it better myself," said Professor Lupin. "So the Boggart sitting in the darkness within has not yet assumed a form. He does not yet know what will frighten the person on the other side of the door. Nobody knows what a Boggart looks like when he is alone, but when I let him out, he will immediately become whatever each of us most fears. This means that we have a huge advantage over the Boggart before we begin. Have you spotted it, Harry?"

Trying to answer a question with Hermione next to him, bobbing up and down on the balls of her feet with her hand in the air, was very off-putting, but Harry had a go.

"Er—because there are so many of us, it won't know what shape it should be?" he said.

"Precisely," said Professor Lupin, and Hermione put her hand down, looking a little disappointed. Harry saw Mia smile softly at her, bumping their shoulders to get her to cheer up.

"It's always best to have company when you're dealing with a Boggart," Professor Lupin continued. "He becomes confused. Which should he become, a headless corpse or a flesh-eating slug? I once saw a Boggart make that very mistake—tried to frighten two people at once and turned himself into half a slug. Not remotely frightening. The charm that repels a Boggart is simple, yet it requires force of mind. You see, the thing that really finishes a Boggart is laughter. What you need to do is force it to assume a shape that you find amusing. We will practice the charm without wands first. After me, please…_Riddikulus!_"

_"Riddikulus!"_ said the class together.

"Good," said Professor Lupin. "Very good. But that was the easy part, I'm afraid. You see, the word alone is not enough. And this is where you come in, Neville."

Professor Lupin had Neville come to the front of the class where everyone could see him visibly shaking all over. When asked what he feared most in the world, Neville, still red in the face, admitted that his greatest fear was Snape. Nearly everyone laughed although Harry could understand Neville's answer—half the class was sure that Snape was out to make Neville's life as miserable as possible. Professor Lupin didn't laugh at him though. Instead he asked Neville what kind of clothes that his grandmother wore, to which Harry saw Mia gasp softly. Looking over at her, he saw that her eyes went big and were practically glowing in excitement. She was grinning broadly over at Neville and Professor Lupin, as if she knew what they were talking about and what Professor Lupin was getting at. Once Neville finished describing his grandmother's clothes, Professor Lupin smiled, and then he told Neville to picture her clothes in his mind. He also said that he will open the wardrobe and the Boggart will walk out as Professor Snape. The rest of his instructions were unknown because he leaned down next to Neville and whispered something in his ears. Neville's eyes went wide and he stared at Professor Lupin as if he couldn't believe what he just said. At this point Mia was turning red from trying not to laugh.

"What's so funny?" Harry whispered. Mia just shook her head, apparently not able to speak.

"If Neville is successful, the Boggart is likely to shift his attention to each of us in turn," said Professor Lupin. "I would like all of you to take a moment now to think of the thing that scares you most, and imagine how you might force it to look comical."

The room went quiet and Harry tried to think about what scared him most in the world. The first thing that came to his mind was Voldemort. Or rather a Voldemort returned to full strength and power. He remembered vividly how he had looked back in first year when he and Mia had gone up against him. He remembered the red eyes and the cruel and cold way he laughed. Just as he started to think of a way to make a Boggart Voldemort funny, something else entered his mind—something with a rotting, glistening hand, slithering back beneath a black cloak…a long, rattling breath from an unseen mouth…then a cold so penetrating it felt like drowning…

Harry shivered, then looked around, hoping no one had noticed. Many people had their eyes shut tight. Ron was muttering to himself, "Take its legs off." Harry was sure he knew what that was about—Ron's greatest fear was spiders. He looked over at Mia, who also had her eyes closed, and she was biting her lip, taking some deep calming breaths.

"Everyone ready?" said Professor Lupin.

Harry felt a lurch of fear. He wasn't ready. How could you make a Dementor less frightening? But he didn't want to ask for more time—everyone else was nodding and rolling up their sleeves, although he noticed that Mia was also looking slightly panicked. Seeing her scared made Harry forget his own fears for a moment and he instantly began to worry. What was Mia afraid of?

"Neville, we're going to back away," said Professor Lupin. "Let you have a clear field, all right? I'll call the next person forward. Everyone back, now, so Neville can get a clear shot—"

Everyone backed up, making sure they gave Neville plenty of room. He looked pale and frightened, but he had pushed up the sleeves of his robes and was holding his wand ready.

"On the count of three, Neville," said Professor Lupin, who was pointing his own wand at the handle of the wardrobe. "One—two—three—now!"

A jet of sparks shot from the end of Professor Lupin's wand and hit the doorknob. The wardrobe burst open and then everyone looked on as Snape stepped out, his eyes flashing at Neville, who backed away, his wand up, mouthing wordlessly. Snape was bearing down upon him, reaching inside his robes.

_"R—r— Riddikulus! "_ squeaked Neville. There was a loud and sharp crack, and then in the next moment, the Boggart Snape stumbled, his clothes switching from all black robes to a long, lace trimmed green dress, a stuffed vulture hat, heels, and a bright red handbag.

Everyone burst out laughing, their voices echoing against the walls, and Mia had to lean on Harry in order to keep herself standing upright, tears starting to form in her eyes.

"Wonderful Neville!" Professor Lupin called while laughing. "Move back with the others—Parvati! Forward!"

Parvati walked forward, her face set. The Boggart Snape looked at her for a moment before disappearing with another loud crack, and then there was a bloodstained, bandaged mummy taking its place. Its sightless face was turned to Parvati and it began to walk toward her very slowly, dragging its feet, its stiff arms rising—

_"Riddikulus!"_ cried Parvati.

A bandage unraveled at the mummy's feet—it became entangled, fell face forward, and its head rolled off.

"Seamus!" roared Professor Lupin.

Seamus darted past Parvati. _Crack!_ Where the mummy had been was a woman with floor-length black hair and a skeletal, green-tinged face—a banshee. She opened her mouth wide and an unearthly sound filled the room, a long, wailing shriek that made the hair on Harry's head stand on end.

_"Riddikulus!"_ shouted Seamus.

The banshee made a rasping noise and clutched her throat—her voice was gone. Once the banshee lost her voice, the Boggart started turning into a bunch of different things, all in half a second.

"It's confused!" shouted Lupin. "We're getting there! Dean!"

Dean hurried forward. _Crack!_ The eyeball became a severed hand, which flipped over and began to creep along the floor like a crab.

_"Riddikulus!"_ yelled Dean.

There was a snap, and the hand was trapped in a mousetrap.

"Excellent! Ron, you next!" said Professor Lupin.

As soon as Ron came forward, there was another crack in in place of the severed hand, there was a gigantic and hairy spider, clicking its pinchers threateningly. Ron was as still as a statue, but then he raise his wand high above his head and yelled, _"Riddikulus!" _

The spider's legs vanished and it rolled over and over, coming to a stop in front of Mia.

"Mia, go on!" Professor Lupin called.

Mia looked scared and nervous and Harry was about to offer to go forth instead, but she straightened out her posture and cautiously stepped forward towards the Boggart, which froze on the floor as she came near. There was an almighty crack, and a new form took its place. There was dead silence as a man stood in the middle of the floor, and Harry's eyes widened in shock when he saw a familiar purple turban. Out of the corner of his eye he saw Ron gape, his mouth hanging open, and he heard Hermione gasp.

Quirrell looked around the room, his pale face showing no emotion until his dark eyes landed on Mia, He smiled evilly, and then, to Harry's horror, there was a cold, cruel and frighteningly familiar voice speaking, although Quirrell's lips were not moving.

"I can see your heart, Amelia Thatcher," the snake-like voice said. "And I know your greatest fears…"

Mia had turned snow white, and her eyes were filled with terror, her wand hanging limply by her side and her body starting to tremble. Quirrell took a step closer to her, still smiling.

"You fear I will return to power, and destroy everything you hold dear…make no mistake Amelia, I will return…and when I do, I will kill everything and everyone you love. Your little Mudblood friend will go first, and then the blood-traitor…"

Mia was shaking her head frantically and she took a step back, her breathing started to come out in small gasps.

"You cannot protect them…you cannot protect him…I will return and I will make you watch as I kill him…I will kill him and there's nothing you can do about it…"

It was at this point that Quirrell raised his hands and made to remove his turban from his head.

"Harry Potter is as good as mine…"

"_Riddikulus!" _Mia screamed, finally raising her wand and pointing it at Quirrell. With a loud _crack, _Quirrell vanished just as he was taking off his turban and in his place stood a circus clown that started juggling bright red balls in the air on a unicycle, making funny faces. A few people started to laugh when the clown fell off the cycle but Harry kept his eyes on Mia, She was deathly pale and seemed frozen to the spot with fear, staring at the place where Quirrell stood…where Voldemort stood…

After all this time, Mia still thought about that night in first year—and now, as everyone had just seen, it still scared her to death. How could he have been so stupid and careless not to realize that it was still bothering her? Just as Harry was about to go and comfort her, the clown rolled over and stopped right in front of him, but before he even had a chance to raise his wand and get rid of it, Professor Lupin leapt forward, shouting, "Here!"

The clown had vanished. For a second, everyone looked wildly around to see where it was, and then they saw a silvery-white orb hanging in the air in front of Lupin, who said, _"Riddikulus!" _almost lazily.

_Crack!_

"Forward, Neville, and finish him off!" said Lupin as the Boggart landed on the floor as a cockroach.

_Crack!_ Snape was back and this time Neville charged forward looking determined.

_"Riddikulus!"_ he shouted, and they had a split second's view of Snape in his lacy dress before Neville let out a great "Ha!" of laughter, and the Boggart exploded, burst into a thousand tiny wisps of smoke, and was gone.

"Excellent!" cried Professor Lupin. "Excellent, Neville. Well done, everyone. Let me see…five points to Gryffindor for every person to tackle the Boggart—ten for Neville because he did it twice…and five each to Mia and Harry."

Harry was not paying attention as he kept his eyes on Mia, as did some others in class. Everyone knew what had happened in their first year, and it was a huge shock to everyone when Quirrell had appeared in the classroom. Harry wasn't sure exactly how many people really knew who it was that was speaking, but at the moment it didn't seem to matter, for Mia was looking as if she needed to sit down. Professor Lupin saw this, and he quickly said, "That will be all for today. For homework, kindly read the chapter on Boggarts and summarize it for me, to be handed in on Monday. Mia, please stay behind for a moment."

Everyone quickly started to leave the classroom and Harry rushed over to Mia's side, giving her a hug. She was still shaking and she clung to him tightly.

"I-I'm sorry," she whispered, sounding close to tears. "I-I really thought th-that I was over this…but I j-just can't forget…"

"Mia, it's okay," Harry said, pulling back and looking her in the eye. "It's okay, you don't have to be sorry. He's gone for now, everything is fine."

"I wish I wasn't so scared of him," Mia said, her eyes growing watery. "I don't want him to come back…"

Harry felt his heart clench seeing his best friend like this. He wanted to say something to make her feel better, but he stopped when he saw that everyone else was gone except for Ron and Hermione, and Professor Lupin was slowly walking towards them.

"We'll wait outside for you," he said. Mia nodded her head and then he left the staffroom with Ron and Hermione, going out into the corridor to wait for Mia.

MPOV 

"Are you all right Mia?" Professor Lupin asked.

"Yes, I'm fine," Mia said, taking in a breath. "Professor, I'm really sorry, I wasn't expecting that, I didn't mean to scare everyone."

"I should apologize Mia, I had no idea you would be so strongly affected by this lesson," Professor Lupin said in a quiet and comforting tone. "You have nothing to be sorry for. Here, take this."

Professor Lupin reached into the pocket of his robes and pulled out a piece of chocolate, handing it to Mia. She smiled slightly.

"You already have our respect sir, but you might become everyone's favorite if you hand out treats like this every class," she said, causing Professor Lupin to chuckle before his face turned serious.

"You don't have to tell me if you don't want to Mia. But that Boggart…that was Voldemort, wasn't it?"

Mia was surprised to hear Professor Lupin say Voldemort's name. The only other adult she has ever heard say the name was Professor Dumbledore. Taking a bite of the chocolate, Mia nodded slowly.

"One of our old teachers was influenced under him," she muttered. "Harry and I got hurt and…well, I guess I just haven't gotten over it yet."

She saw Professor Lupin stiffen for half a second when she mentioned that she and Harry had gotten hurt by Quirrell but he quickly relaxed and gave her a look of understanding.

"Sometimes when we encounter a fearful experience, it never really leaves us," he said. "But I must say, I am impressed at the way you handled yourself—you stood up to him even though you were afraid. You should be quite proud of yourself."

"Thank you sir," said Mia, starting to feel a little better.

"Are you and Harry close?" he asked.

"He's my best friend," Mia answered. Professor Lupin smiled.

"Well, I'm sure he's lucky to have someone who cares so much for his safety," Professor Lupin said. "Now are you sure you're all right, Mia?"

"Yes."

"All right. If you ever need to talk, my door is always open. I will see you on Monday."

"Thanks Professor," Mia said. She turned around and then headed out of the staffroom, only to find her three best friends waiting for her. As soon as they saw her, Ron came over and gave her a smile as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

"How about we go down to the lake for a little bit while it's still light out?" he said. "I don't think it'll kill us to miss some of dinner."

"Okay, who are you, and what have you done with Ron?" Mia asked making Hermione giggle.

"Come on," Harry said. "Let's go down to the Willow tree."

Mia couldn't help but smile. A nice afternoon sitting at their spot under the tree by the lake was just what she needed right now.

**Read and review please!**


	6. Misty Eyes and Dazzling Smiles

**Hi everybody! Sorry it took a while, but chapter six is finally here! I am so excited to see what you guys think of this, I was practically bouncing in my seat as I wrote it! This is so cool, I hope you guys enjoyed it as much as I did! To any of you who might get a little upset, just remember, we still have four more books to go, so anything can happen. ;) **

**As usual, any comments or questions, please tell me! And please, please, please review! I love to read what you all think. Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: All things Harry Potter are not mine.**

Chapter Six: Misty Eyes and Dazzling Smiles

MPOV

Ever since the lesson with the Boggart, Defense Against the Dark Arts quickly became everyone's favorite class. Despite his shabby appearance, Professor Lupin was an amazing and excellent teacher. After they were through with Boggarts, they went on studying Red Caps, nasty little goblin-like creatures that lurked wherever there had been bloodshed, and from there, they moved on to Kappas creepy water-dwellers that looked like scaly monkeys with webbed hands. Mia and all her other classmates found that this was a definite improvement compared to their last two teachers, as Professor Lupin seemed to actually know what he was doing as well as catching them all up since Lockhart had put them all so far behind.

Also, Mia was feeling a lot better since that disastrous encounter with the Boggart. Harry, Ron, and Hermione took her down to the lake and they had a nice long conversation about it. She admitted to them that while it wasn't necessarily Voldemort she feared, it was more the fact that if he returned then he would come after them, and she didn't want to lose her friends. Harry had his arm around her shoulders the entire time she talked, and he, along with Ron and Hermione, assured her that they weren't going anywhere. They were understanding and helped calm her down some, and by the time they went back up to the castle for dinner, Mia felt a whole lot better, and she promised them that she would talk to them the next time she felt truly bothered about something.

Besides that, life went on in a regular fashion. Mia was doing well in her classes, and the warm days of September were slowly fading into the chilly beginnings of October. Snape was being even more of a git than usual due to the story of Neville's Boggart, and ever since the incident with Malfoy and Buckbeak, Hagrid had lost his confidence and had everyone spend lesson after lesson caring for Flobberworms. Nearly every day she would listen as Harry ranted about how much he hated Divination and the way Professor Trelawney was always predicting his death. She would also listen as Hermione would talk of how the class was complete rubbish and it left Mia wondering how exactly Hermione could have Divination and Arithmancy at the same exact time. A friend of Jenna's, Lucy Cannon, has Arithmancy the same time as Hermione, and she confirmed that she has never missed a lesson. Every time Mia would bring up the subject, Hermione came up with very vague answers or changed the topic all together, making Mia feel like her friend was keeping something from her.

"I'm just curious about how you are managing it all Hermione," Mia said one night in the common room while they were doing homework. "Believe me when I say you're good, but isn't this a little too much?"

"Don't worry, I'll be able to handle it," Hermione assured her as she flicked through a rather large book.

"Well, all right, just let me know if you need any help, okay?" said Mia. "I have a feeling that eventually this is all going to be too much for you…"

In the first week of October, the Quidditch season finally began, and Oliver Wood, captain of the Gryffindor team immediately started setting the team to work, making them practice up to three or four nights a week. The team consisted of Angelina Johnson, Alicia Spinnet, and Katie Bell (Chasers), Fred and George Weasley (Beaters), Oliver (Keeper), and Harry (Seeker). Mia loved going to watch them practice in the stadium and seeing them prepare for the season. Their first game was in just a few weeks, and Mia couldn't wait. Although she wasn't a fan of flying, she loved watching the games and cheering Harry on. It was on one of these nights that Mia found herself sitting out in the stands, watching Harry and the others flying in perfect formation around the stadium. Wood had let out the Snitch a few times and Harry managed to catch it in less than ten minutes every time. The sky was slowly getting darker and the air was getting colder, causing Mia to wrap her cloak closer around herself and snuggle her face deeper into her scarf as she continued watching them play. Soon enough, it was getting much too dark to practice any further, and Wood called it a night. As the team flew down to the ground, Mia stood up from her seat and quickly went down the stairs so she could wait for Harry outside the locker rooms. When she finally reached it, she saw Angelina and Katie walking out.

"Hi Angelina, hi Katie," Mia greeted upon seeing them.

"Hi Mia," Angelina said while Katie smiled at her.

"You all looked really great out there," Mia said. "You'll win the cup this year for sure."

"Let's hope so, or Oliver will never let us live it down," Angelina said, rolling her eyes. "he's determined to win it this year before he graduates."

"By the way Mia, you might not want to let Fred and George see you," Katie said.

"Why?" Mia asked.

"Harry told them about your little crush, and they're not taking well to the idea," she answered.

"What? Well that's just great," Mia groaned, making a face. "Not only do I have Harry out for his blood but I now I have the notorious Fred and George out for him too! I don't even want to think about what they would do to Noah."

"Nothing that is innocent enough for young ears, Mia darling," came a couple voices from behind her. Mia slowly turned around to see the Weasley twins standing with their arms crossed over their chests, looking sternly down at her. Angelina and Katie excused themselves and quickly scampered away.

"So," Fred began. "A little bird told us that there's a Ravenclaw twit that's been checking out our little sister."

_A soon to be dead little bird,_ Mia thought savagely.

"And according to Big Brother Guidelines, you do know that we must punish this twit, right?" George put in. "Quite brutally, I might add."

"Guys, please don't," Mia said. "Promise you won't do anything."

"Don't be too worried Mia, we need time and effort to think up of a perfect prank for this _Noah_," Fred said. "So we're not going to do him any harm…at least not yet."

"If he can deem himself worthy of courting you, and can survive our little 'tests' than we just might consider letting him sit next to you during mealtimes," said George. "Under supervision, of course."

"Because no one is good enough for our little Mia," Fred added. "Come George—we have some plans to prepare."

Mia could only stare helplessly as Fred and George set off for the castle, talking quietly amongst themselves. Dear God, how is Noah going to survive? Just as she was thinking this, she could faintly hear the sound of soft footsteps behind her and she whipped around to see Harry attempting to sneak his way around her. Her eyes narrowed dangerously as he froze and took on the expression of a deer caught in headlights.

"You're dead!" she said. Harry didn't even stick around to hear what else she had to say, because at that moment he took off for the castle with Mia right behind him. She chased him all the way up the grassy slopes and into the entrance hall, where Mia could see Hagrid talking with Professor Lupin, the two of them laughing about something. At the sound of their pounding footsteps, Hagrid turned around and smiled when he saw them.

"Hello ther you two," he called in greeting.

"Sorry Hagrid, can't talk!" Harry said as he rushed past him towards the marble staircase.

"Harry Potter, you get back here right now!" Mia yelled as she raced after him. "Hi Hagrid, Professor Lupin!"

The two teachers couldn't even get a chance to say anything back as Mia followed Harry up the marble staircase and down the first corridor. This game of cat and mouse continued on and neither one started to get tired until they reached the third floor. As fast as Harry was, he couldn't keep running forever, and just as he was starting to slow down, Mia put on an extra burst of speed and managed to catch up with him. With one good jump, she grabbed hold of Harry's arm, latching onto his robes and they both stumbled to a halt, with Harry dropping his Nimbus.

"You've got some serious explaining to do mister," Mia said, glaring at him with her piercing blue eyes.

A little while later, after Mia had nagged Harry for twenty minutes straight and unwillingly giving in to his puppy dog look, the two of them made their way up to Gryffindor tower together, talking about the upcoming game. Mia smiled at the sight of Harry's grin and the way his eyes lit up excitedly when they talked about Quidditch. Despite all the bad things that have happened in the past, Quidditch was one thing that helped Harry forget about it all. Playing made him so happy and carefree, it was a good way to him to let loose for a while. Although he wasn't nearly as obsessed as Oliver Wood, Mia was glad that Harry was able to find something that he was good at that made him happy. They continued making their way to the tower, and once they gave the password to the Fat Lady, the two of them walked inside to see that there was a crowd gathered around the bulletin board. Mia and Harry made their way around towards Ron and Hermione, who were sitting over by the fireplace.

"What's happened?" Harry asked them as he sat down.

"First Hogsmeade weekend," Ron replied. "End of October, on Halloween."

Harry's excited face instantly started fading into a gloomy one and Mia felt so sorry for him. It must be awful to see everyone get so enthusiastic about going down to Hogsmeade when you yourself couldn't go.

"Harry, I'm sure you'll be able to go next time," Hermione said, seeing Harry's expression. "They're bound to catch Black soon. He's been sighted once already."

"Black's not fool enough to try anything in Hogsmeade," said Ron. "Ask McGonagall if you can go this time Harry. The next one might not be for ages—"

"Ron!" said Hermione. "Harry's supposed to stay in school—"

"He can't be the only third year left behind," said Ron. "Ask McGonagall, go on Harry—"

"Yeah, I think I will," Harry said. Hermione looked like she was about to argue, but at that moment Crookshanks leapt lightly onto her lap, with a large dead spider dangling from his mouth. He was followed closely by Sapphire, who leapt up onto Mia's lap and made herself comfortable.

"Does he have to eat that in front of us?" asked Ron, scowling.

"Clever Crookshanks, did you catch that all by yourself?" Hermione cooed at her cat, gently stroking his head. While Crookshanks ate the spider, he kept his yellow eyes fixed on Ron.

"Just keep him over there, that's all," Ron mumbled irritably. "I've got Scabbers asleep in my bag."

"Is he doing any better?" asked Mia.

"Not really," Ron answered, looking a little down at the thought. "The rat tonic isn't doing much, and he still looks ill. He hardly eats his food anymore and he's losing more fur."

Mia couldn't help but feel sorry for Ron—as much as he complained about Scabbers, she was sure that Ron really did care for him. As far as she could tell, it sounded like Scabbers was close to dying and she knew that Ron would be very sad and miserable if that happened. Ron has had Scabbers as long as Mia had known him, and according to him, Percy has had him since he was a little boy, so the rat has been around for quite some time. Common rats like Scabbers usually didn't live past a few years at the most, so it was remarkable how long Scabbers has been alive. Mia figured that Scabbers must have some sort of magical properties to make him live for so long. However, it looked like his time has finally come up. All the same, she put on a reassuring smile for him.

"I'm sure he'll start to get better soon Ron," she said, hoping to cheer him up. "He is quite old—it's just probably taking a little longer than usual for the rat tonic to work for him."

"I guess so," Ron muttered, finishing off his last mark on his star chart. "Do you want to copy off of my chart, Harry? I just finished."

"Yeah, thanks," Harry said, pulling Ron's chart towards him.

"You really shouldn't be copying Harry," Hermione said, frowning.

"Let's give him a break Mione," Mia said, smiling over at Harry. "Wood's been driving them to the bone, he's exhausted. "Just don't make a habit out of it Harry."

"Yes Mum," Harry replied with a tired smile. The next few minutes was passed in silence as Harry finished up his homework. Mia continued to stroke Sapphire's back, and she saw that both she and Crookshanks were staring intently at Ron's bag. Crookshanks flicked his tail back and forth, and then, before any of them could blink, he lunged straight for Ron's bag and sank his claws into it.

"OY!" Ron shouted as he Crookshanks started to tear at the bag. "GET OFF, YOU STUPID ANIMAL!"

"Ron, don't hurt him!" Hermione squealed as Ron tried to yank the bag out of Crookshanks' clutches. The orange cat was showing no mercy as he slashed at it, and as Ron swung the bag around, Mia saw Scabbers the rat come flying out of the top and land on the floor. The poor rat gave a terrified squeak as Crookshanks finally released the bag and then chased after him. Sapphire hissed loudly before jumping off of Mia's lap, her eyes following Scabbers.

"CATCH THAT CAT!" Ron yelled as he sprinted after them. Crookshanks chased Scabbers all across the common room, the scared rat shooting through people's legs until he found solace underneath a chest of drawers. Crookshanks sank low and took ferocious swipes at him while Ron and Hermione quickly rushed over. Hermione pried Crookshanks away while Ron fell onto his stomach and, after a couple minutes, managed to pull Scabbers out by his tail.

"Look at him!" he said furiously to Hermione. "He's skin and bone! You keep that cat away from him!"

"Crookshanks doesn't understand it's wrong!" Hermione said, defending her pet. All cats chase rats Ron!"

"There's something funny about that animal!" said Ron. "It heard me say that Scabbers was in my bag!"

"That's rubbish!" Hermione snapped. "Crookshanks can _smell_ him Ron, how else do you think—"

"That cat's got it in for Scabbers!" Ron stated, ignoring Hermione's comment. "And Scabbers was here first, _and _he's ill!"

Everyone watched as Ron stormed away from Hermione and up the staircase leading to the boy's dormitories. Hermione stood rooted to the spot, looking angry and upset. Mia looked over at Harry before turning to everyone else who was looking on.

"Okay, show's over, go back to your business!" Mia called out to them. As everyone turned away and chatter once again broke out through the common rom, Mia saw Sapphire out of the corner of her eye, trying to sneak through the door that Ron had left open. She hurriedly got up and scooped her cat up into her arms before she could go up the stairs.

"Oh no you don't," Mia reprimanded her as she carried her back over to the seat. "The last thing we need is Ron yelling at us too."

…..

Ron was in a bad mood with Hermione for the next couple of days, and it was hard for the tow of them to speak to one another without feeling the tension. Both Harry and Mia tried to make friendly conversation between them, but it just didn't work. Ron was angry that Hermione was not taking Crookshanks' behavior towards Scabbers more seriously, and Hermione was angry with Ron for saying something was wrong with her cat when it was in his nature to go after rats and mice. Although Sapphire hasn't tried to do any harm to Scabbers. Mia saw her watching Ron's every move whenever he had the rat in his pocket, and, although she could be imagining it, it was almost like Sapphire was watching her prey, getting ready for the best moment to strike. Mia didn't like this, so she did her best to keep Sapphire up in her own dormitory, along with Crookshanks.

On the Wednesday morning after the incident, Mia was sitting on a log not too far away from Hagrid's house on the edge of the Forbidden Forest. She had wanted to go and visit Hagrid during her break while Harry, Ron, and Hermione were all in Divination, but it turned out that Hagrid wasn't there at the moment, so while she was walking back, she decided to sit and draw for a little while.

She was nibbling on some toast and an apple that she had brought down with her from breakfast, staring at her sketchpad and trying to come up with something to draw. Over the past few years, Mia's drawings have gotten steadily better, and the best part was that there was always something to practice on. There were so many things to sketch at Hogwarts, and she was always able to find something new. However, this morning she was stumped—even sitting at her favorite spot on the grounds on a sunny fall morning didn't help things very much. She frowned at the blank paper in front of her, as if silently commanding it to give her some ideas, and the next couple minutes passed by in complete silence. Deciding to give up for now, Mia dejectedly started to put her paper and pencils away just as a sneering voice made its way over to her on the wind.

"Well, well, well what do we have here?"

Mia mentally groaned at the sound of the voice and wondered why she was being tormented so early in the morning. She looked over to see Malfoy and his gorilla goonies striding towards her, ugly smirks on their faces. Mia stood up from the log she was sitting on but placed her hand close to her pocket—she knew Malfoy enough to know that she was probably going to need it.

"What are you doing out here, Thatcher?" Malfoy jeered as they came closer. "Did Scarhead and his pathetic friends ditch you?"

"I don't see how that's any of your business Malfoy," Mia said, her eyes narrowing slightly at him. "What are you doing out here?"

"My arm has been in such pain lately that I haven't found the strength to go to all of my classes recently," Malfoy answered, sighing heavily as he looked down at his bandaged arm in mock sadness. "Such a shame really—I suppose I'll just have to find another way to entertain myself."

Crabbe and Goyle chuckled stupidly and Mia had to restrain the urge to roll her eyes.

"And what would that be Malfoy? Are you planning on doing something to your leg next to make people feel sorry for you? If that's the case, than I'd be _glad _to help out," Mia said.

"I have a much better idea in mind," Malfoy said, his cold grey eyes glaring daggers at her. "How about you see what happens when filthy Mudloods like you don't know how to respect your superiors."

"I hope you're not talking about yourself," Mia said in a hard tone, taking a more defensive stance. "Last time I checked, the only thing you're superior at is being a whiny little ferret who cried over a few scratches from a bird."

"You think you're so tough, Mudblood? I don't see Potter or anyone else here that can help you," Malfoy drawled, a gleaming and satisfied look coming into his eyes as he and his bodyguards moved closer, causing Mia to take a step back. "Why don't we take a look inside your bag, see what little Thatcher has inside?"

"Three against one—so very brave," Mia spat, eyeing the three Slytherins intently and discreetly placing her hand in her pocket to grab her wand. "Your prat of a father must be proud."

"Don't say a word against my father," Malfoy hissed. "Filth like you have no right…"

Mia whipped her wand out of her pocket just as Malfoy took out his. She eyed each of them warily, and she was beginning to feel nervous. No matter how idiotic Crabbe and Goyle were, and despite the fact that Malfoy was injured, it was still three against one. Nonetheless she stood her ground and just as she was thinking about possible defenses, there was a sudden noise that made them all stop dead in their tracks. Malfoy looked confused for a moment until he looked over Mia's shoulder, and his entire demeanor changed instantly. His eyes widened in shock and fear, and his face went a shade paler than usual as he stared open-mouthed at whatever it was that was behind Mia. Crabbe and Goyle followed his gaze, and it wasn't until Mia heard growling that she chanced a look over her shoulder to see what had scared Malfoy so much.

Slowly inching out of the shadows of the trees was an enormous, shaggy jet black dog. Its presence startled Mia and she almost jumped back at the sight of it. Its hair on the back of its neck was on end, and Mia could see its yellow teeth bared as it snarled dangerously in Malfoy's direction, its stance threatening as it came closer and closer.

"T-t-the Grim!" Malfoy squeaked, his voice three octaves higher than normal and his breathing coming out in short gasps. Crabbe and Goyle looked equally as terrified, and then, to whatever reason unknown to Mia, Goyle shakily raised his wand at the dog, but his lips were trembling so much Mia doubted he would even be able to form a sentence. The giant dog growled some more and then started barking loudly, its shoulders rumbling with each bark. Malfoy let out a shout before turning around and hightailing it in the other direction, with Crabbe and Goyle screaming behind him. Mia watched them run away before looking back over at the dog, which stopped barking and growling now that the three Slytherins were gone. It relaxed its tense posture and let out a soft grunt, as if it were annoyed. And after a few seconds of silence, it turned its gaze to Mia and she stared back at it, gazing into its grey misty eyes. As she looked into them, Mia couldn't help but think that they looked so sad, so lonely, as if it belonged to something that didn't belong anywhere in the world. Now that her initial shock was over, she took a good look at the dog and saw that it was skin and bone, with its fur tattered and scruffy—it must be a stray. A feeling of pity and sadness overwhelmed her as she stared at this creature. This dog looked like it hadn't eaten in days, and not only did it appear lost, it appeared—there was no other word for it—broken. Yet at the same time, she could tell this dog was dangerous, and if she wasn't careful, it could easily snap at her. She wasn't sure how long she stood there looking at it, but she was soon brought out of her thoughts when she saw that it was turning away, heading back into the forest.

"Wait," she found herself saying. "Are you hungry, boy?"

The dog seemed to stop in it tracks and if Mia didn't know any better, she could have sworn its ears perked up a bit at the mention of possible food. When the dog looked back at her, Mia slowly walked over to her bag, making sure he could see her every move. Bending down, she moved the flap of her bag and reached inside, rummaging around for her napkin that had her leftover toast and apple wrapped inside. Once she found it, she took it out, untied the knot, and held out the food in her hands, getting down on her knees.

"Come on boy," she said, calling the dog over. "It's okay."

At first, the dog seemed hesitant, staring intently at her as if trying to find some sort of trickery. To prove she wasn't going to hurt him, Mia gently placed the food down on the ground in front of her, moving back a little to give the dog some space. Keeping his eyes on her, the dog cautiously moved forward a step, as if testing his boundaries. When Mia continued to stay still, he took a couple more steps forward until he was close enough to the food to give it a sniff. And then, faster than Mia could blink, the dog jumped at the toast and apple and started gobbling it all down, as if it would disappear any moment. It took him less than a minute to finish everything, and Mia watched him with sorrowful eyes.

"Poor boy," she muttered. "You probably haven't had much to eat in weeks."

Once the dog was finished eating, he licked his lips in a satisfied way before looking back up at Mia. Despite the edge to his gaze, Mia could see that his eyes had a hidden softness in them, and she couldn't help but smile at him.

"Thanks for chasing those goons away," she said. "The look on Malfoy's face was priceless—you should come by more often, maybe next time he'll wet his pants."

The dog gave a sneeze which could have easily been mistaken for a snort.

"Where do you live boy? Are you from the village? I'm sure someone somewhere must miss you," Mia said. Biting her lip, she slowly raised her hand and held it out towards the dog, her palm facing up. He leaned over a little to sniff her hand and then gently nudged it with his nose. Mia kept smiling at him, and just when she was about to try and pat his head, she heard a voice shout her name.

"Mia!"

Mia looked around to see Jenna walking over to her, a cheerful grin on her face and a smudge of dirt across her cheek—she must have come from Herbology class. Mia waved over at Jenna and then turned back to the dog, only to see that he had disappeared. She stared wildly around to see where he had gone, but he was nowhere in sight. Mia stood to her feet and was just wondering whether he had gone back into the forest when Jenna finally caught up with her.

"What are you doing out here?" Jenna asked her.

"Free period," Mia said, looking into the forest.

"What are you looking at?"

"There was a dog here just a second ago," Mia said. "I don't know where he went…"

"A dog?" Jenna said. "Are you sure? I didn't think there were many dogs around here."

"Neither did I," Mia said. "He looked starved to death, though. I hope he's able to find some food."

"With all the leftover candy from Honeydukes, I'm sure he'll be able to find something," Jenna said. "Do you want to head back inside? It's getting really cold out here."

"Sure," Mia answered, reaching down to grab her bag and slinging it over her shoulder. "Harry, Ron and Hermione should be done with Divination pretty soon anyway."

With that, the two girls began walking back through the grounds and up to the entrance hall. The cold wind blew tendrils of Mia's hair into her face and she shivered, pulling her cloak closer to her.

"Are you excited for Hogsmeade?" Jenna asked through chattering teeth.

"I've been looking forward to it since forever," Mia replied with a smile. "Who are you going with?"

"I was supposed to go with all my friends, but Lucy has a nasty cold, so she'll be stuck in bed for a while, and Ebony has a date."

"Really?" said Mia.

"Yes, but she's swears it's just a 'friendly outing,' but anyone can see that the guy is head over heels for her. So Hannah said that I can hang out with her, Susan, and their friend Bentley Dodger."

"Why don't you ask Fred if he wants to go with you?" Mia asked with a grin. "I'm sure he wouldn't mind—"

"Forget it Mia," Jenna said, her cheeks turning the lightest shade of pink. "I'm not asking Fred."

"Why? Jenna, you'll never know if he likes you until you ask," Mia said. "I know he's a prankster and doesn't take most things seriously, but he would be insane not to like you."

"You're just saying that because you're my friend," Jenna muttered.

"I'm sworn to tell nothing but the truth," Mia said, holding up her hand. "Scout's honor."

"What?" said Jenna, looking extremely confused.

"It's a Muggle thing," Mia giggled. "But really Jenna, don't give up hope so easily—you never know what the future may hold."

"If it's as easy as you say, then how come you're not going on a date?" Jenna asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Nobody likes me that way," Mia answered shrugging.

"That's not what I'm hearing," Jenna said with a grin of her own. "Word has it that you caught the eye of a certain dark haired Ravenclaw."

"God, is there anyone in school who doesn't know?" Mia said.

"Relax, it's really only the students in our year," Jenna said.

"You know, that doesn't make me feel much better," Mia said, scowling. By this point her and Jenna were inside the entrance hall and were walking up the marble staircase to the second floor. Mia marveled at whatever warmth that was still left in the corridors and she rubbed her hands together, trying to take away the chill from her bones.

"I really think you should try talking to him Mia," Jenna said, a smile on her face. "He's cute, and it's obvious he thinks so too. Besides, I'm pretty sure that he wants to talk to you as well."

"And what makes you think that?" Mia said doubtfully.

"The fact that he's walking over towards us right now," Jenna said matter-of-factly. Mia snapped her head straight forward and she indeed saw that Noah was walking towards her and Jenna, a welcoming grin on his handsome face, an excited spark in his blue eyes. Mia felt her face instantly burn up and when she tried walking backwards, Jenna grabbed hold of her cloak to keep her in place.

"Hey Noah," Jenna said,

"Hi," Noah said, nodding at her before turning his sight to Mia. "Hello Mia."

"H-hi Noah," Mia said softly. "It's nice to see you."

"It's nice to see you too. I was actually hoping if I could speak to you alone for a moment? I hope you don't mind," Noah added to Jenna.

"Of course not," Jenna replied cheerfully. "Mia would be happy to speak with you."

She gave Mia a nudge forward and Mia made sure to give her the best and most threatening glare she could muster, which was usually the one she reserved for Harry or Ron when they did something stupid. Jenna just smiled as she continued walking on down the corridor, leaving Mia and Noah alone. Trying to get a hold of herself, Mia made herself look directly into his face.

"So, um, what did you want to talk about?" she asked nervously.

"Well, I actually wanted to ask you something," Noah replied, giving her a dazzling smile. "It's about the Hogsmeade trip this weekend."

Mia's heart started pumping rapidly in her chest and she had to force herself to breath normally while her cheeks flared.

"Hog-Hogsmeade?" she repeated breathlessly.

"Yes," Noah answered. "Are you going with anyone?"

"I—I um, yes—I mean no!" Mia said. "I mean, I'm just going with my friends…"

"Well," said Noah, reaching forward and taking her hand, which was trembling slightly. "I was wondering if you would do me the honor of going to Hogsmeade with me?"

For a while, Mia had lost her voice, and she felt as if she had been struck by lightning. Her mind was barely able to register what just happened. This gorgeous, polite, and amazingly wonderful boy just asked her—plain, boring Mia Thatcher—to go to Hogsmeade. She felt butterflies in her stomach, and, if it wasn't for her dignity, she probably would have fainted. Can this really be happening? Does Noah really like her that way? After a while Mia had to snap herself out of it when she realized that Noah was waiting for an answer.

"You mean like a-a date?" she said.

"Of course," Noah replied, smiling. "I thought it would be a good idea to ask before the others got to you."

"Others?"

"Come on Mia," Noah said. "You must know how pretty you are?"

Mia's face went three shades redder and she bashfully looked down at the ground.

"Thanks," she whispered.

"So, will you be my date?" Noah asked, his voice gentle and soothing. Mia looked back up at him and gave him a shy smile.

"I'd love to," she replied. Noah grinned at her, and then he raised her hand to his lips, kissing the back of it.

"Then I'll see you in the entrance hall on Saturday," he said.

"Okay," Mia said. Noah released her hand, gave her a wink, and then set off down the corridor. Mia stood frozen to the spot, her mind still dazed at what had just happened. Noah asked her on a date—a real date! Her first one! Her feelings of shock quickly vanished and a new giddy and euphoric emotion swelled inside of her. A wide and gleeful smile came to her face and she started skipping down the corridor, giggling for no apparent reason. While she was skipping, she heard the bell go off, signaling the end of class, and she happily made her way down to Transfiguration class. Oh boy, Hermione is not going to believe this!

**Awww, Mia has a date! What did you guys think? Did I handle the situation all right? Read and review please!**


	7. Just A Friend

**Hello everybody! Wow, it's been quite some time, but I finally got chapter seven up! Hehe I'm excited, this chapter has Mia's date in it! I'm a little unsure of how well I made it, it might seem a little too perfect, but worry not my dear readers, everything happens for a reason. ;) I can't wait to see what you all think of this, and yes most of it is from the book, but not too badly. I've already started typing out the next chapter so hopefully it won't take as long as this one did. Please, please review, you know I love them, and any comments or questions, hit me up! **** Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: All things Harry Potter are not mine.**

Chapter Seven: Just A Friend

HPOV

"This is ridiculous! What does she see in him?"

"Harry—"

"She's only spoken to him twice! Why is she so eager to go out on a date with him? She barely knows him!"

"Harry, listen—"

"He's too years older than her! She'll only be fifteen when he graduates! What if he kicks her aside for some other girl outside of school? I swear if he does that to her I'll—"

"_Harry, just calm down!_" Ron said loudly, making sure he had Harry's attention. "You're wearing out a hole in the rug from pacing—you're making me dizzy."

It was now Halloween morning, and the first Hogsmeade visit of the year. Harry and Ron were sitting up in their dormitory, getting hanged and getting ready to head down to breakfast before Ron, Hermione and Mia would head out to Hogsmeade. Along with being depressed that he could not go with them, Harry was also aggravated at the fact that Mia was having her first date there with that stuck up, know-it-all Ravenclaw twit, Noah. A few days ago Mia had come to Transfiguration class looking flustered, her eyes bright and a smile on her face. She took her seat with Hermione in front of them and excitedly told them about Noah asking her out to Hogsmeade, and needless to say, Harry was less than thrilled. What could Mia possibly like about that guy? From what Harry could tell, he was a popular fifth year, and, to add to his displeasure, he was quite a fawning object by more than just a few girls. He had been silent throughout the entire class while Hermione and Mia were whispering together in giggles. He didn't want to say anything because he didn't want to have another fight with Mia, and he knew she was right—there was really no reason for him not to like Noah, but he couldn't help it. He just had a weird feeling about him, and he didn't like it one bit. So now here he was, walking around the dormitory and trying to figure out Mia's fascination with him.

"You're not doing any good just walking in circles, mate," Ron said.

"How can she say yes so quickly though?" asked Harry as he sat down on his bed. "All he is to her is a 'sweet, handsome gentleman'—I don't like it."

"Neither do I," Ron said, a frown on his face. "But we can't really do anything about it. Besides, this is Mia's first date—as much as I'm not too fond of the bloke, she seems happy. I don't want to spoil it for her."

Harry just scowled. He didn't want to spoil this for Mia either, but he just couldn't shake this feeling off.

"I suppose," he grumbled. "I just don't know why this is bothering me so much."

Ron looked at him for a moment, as if he was hesitating to say something.

"What?" said Harry.

"I know you're concerned for Mia, Harry but…well—do you think that you might be a little jealous?"

"What?" Harry repeated, completely stunned and caught off guard. "Why would I be jealous?"

"I don't know," Ron mumbled, going slightly red in the face. "Maybe you like her?"

There was complete silence for five seconds before Harry started to laugh.

"Mia?" he said. "No way, I love her like a sister, she's my best friend. I don't like her that way—that would be too weird to even think about."

"I'm just saying mate," Ron said, shrugging. "You're the one going bonkers over this."

"She's just a friend," Harry said, finding the idea completely mad. "Come on, we should probably go down to breakfast."

Ron didn't object as they both left the dormitory and headed down the spiral staircase that would lead them down to the common room. However, as soon as they reached it, Harry froze in his tracks, and his eyes nearly bulged out of his sockets at what he saw. Hermione and Mia were standing by the armchairs waiting for them but Mia looked—different. She was wearing a pretty white sweater underneath her blue coat, with skinny black pants, a scarf, a headband pulling back her hair, some jewelry on her wrists and ears, and even _makeup. _There was some lipstick on her lips and dark blue shadows around her eyes. Harry just stared at her, not sure what to think. Granted, Mia looked nice all the time, but now she was very pretty. She usually never cared much for things like this, and while it was a little out of character, Harry had to admit it was a good change.

"Bloody hell!" Ron exclaimed when he saw Mia, his eyes also growing big. "You look like a girl!"

"I am a girl, you halfwit," said Mia, rolling her eyes.

"But today you actually look like one!" Ron said. "I've never seen you dressed up like this! Hermione, what did you do to her?!"

"I didn't do anything," Hermione replied. "It was Lavender and Parvati. I think she looks rather nice, don't you think Harry?"

"Um," said Harry. "You do look really nice, Mia."

"Thanks Harry," Mia said, her face going pink at his words. After Ron stood ogling at Mia for another few seconds, they all left the common room and made their way down to the Great Hall for some breakfast. Everyone around them was talking excitedly about the Hogsmeade trip, and it didn't do anything to brighten Harry's mood.

"We'll bring you lots of sweets back from Honeydukes," said Hermione, looking desperately sorry for him.

"Yeah, loads," said Ron as Mia nodded next to him.

"Don't worry about me," said Harry, in what he hoped was an offhand voice, "I'll see you at the feast. Have a good time."

When they were all finished eating, they stood up and made their way out to the entrance hall where Filch, the caretaker, was standing inside the front doors, checking off names against a long list, peering suspiciously into every face, and making sure that no one was sneaking out who shouldn't be going.

"Staying here, Potter?" shouted Malfoy, who was standing in line with Crabbe and Goyle. "Scared of passing the Dementors?"

"Don't listen to him Harry," Mia said, glaring at the blonde. "I'm sure he's not too pleased with passing them either."

Harry just nodded and Mia looked at him sadly before giving him a quick hug.

"I'm sure you'll be able to go next time," she said reassuringly. "I promise, we'll bring you back so much stuff it'll feel like you were there the whole time!"

Harry smiled at her, but before he could say anything, they were interrupted by a new voice.

"Hello Mia."

Harry, along with Ron, instantly glowered as they turned to see Noah the Ravenclaw twit standing there, a smile on his face and an expensive looking cloak wrapped around his shoulders. Mia visibly brightened and her cheeks went red as she smiled shyly back at him.

"Hi Noah," she greeted softly. "Guys, this is Noah. Noah, these are my friends, Harry, Ron and Hermione."

"It's nice to meet you all," Noah said politely, nodded his head at them.

"Nice to meet you too," Hermione said.

"Charmed," Ron mumbled quietly while Harry said nothing.

"Are you all set to go?" Noah asked Mia.

"Yes," she said. "I'll see you guys later."

Mia and Noah started making their way over to Filch while Harry glared at them.

"'_It's nice to meet you all,'_" Ron imitated in a high voice with an annoyed expression. "What a git."

"Ron, stop," Hermione scolded. "Just leave them alone. We'll see you when we get back Harry."

"Yeah, sure," he said. He waved goodbye to them before turning around and heading back up the marble staircase, walking through the deserted corridors. As he made his way back to Gryffindor tower, he was at a loss of what to do until his friends came back for the feast. He gave the password to the Fat Lady when he reached her portrait, allowing him access to the common room. However, once he was inside, Colin Creevey instantly made his way over, looking like a small child at Christmas. He asked Harry if he wanted to sit with him and his friends, but Harry declined, claiming he had some work to get done and not wanting everyone gawking at his forehead. So he had to head back out of the room, much to the Fat Lady's displeasure as he had woken her up from her nap.

Harry first started making his way towards the library, but halfway there he changed his mind. He didn't really feel like working and he didn't think he would be able to focus anyway. His mind was still going back to Hogsmeade, and how much his friends were probably having fun without him. A heavy sigh escaped his lips as he thought about the great things in the village that he would never get to see. Also, a small seed of annoyance was plated in his gut at the thought of Mia and Noah. Was he treating her okay? Despite his feelings about the guy, he hoped that Noah was giving Mia a good time for her first visit to the village. And Harry was thinking about what Ron had said earlier, internally laughing at the idea. How could he like Mia? She's been there for him since he was eight years old, she was his very best friend, and nothing else. She was just a friend. These feelings were strictly overprotectiveness, and so he just shook his head at the thought of everything otherwise. Just as Harry turned around, he came face-to-face with Filch, who must have just seen off the last of the Hogsmeade visitors.

"What are you doing?" Filch snarled suspiciously.

"Nothing," said Harry truthfully.

"Nothing!" spat Filch, his jowls quivering unpleasantly. "A likely story! Sneaking around on your own—why aren't you in Hogsmeade buying Stink Pellets and Belch Powder and Whizzing Worms like the rest of your nasty little friends?"

Harry shrugged.

"Well, get back to your common room where you belong!" snapped Filch, and he stood glaring until Harry had passed out of sight.

But Harry didn't go back to the common room. He climbed a staircase, thinking vaguely of visiting the Owlery to see Hedwig, and was walking along another corridor when a voice from inside one of the rooms said, "Harry?"

Harry doubled back to see who had spoken and met Professor Lupin, looking around his office door.

"What are you doing?" said Professor Lupin, though in a very different voice from Filch. "Where are Ron, Hermione and Mia?"

"Hogsmeade," Harry answered in a would-be casual voice.

"Ah," said Professor Lupin. "Why don't you come in? I've just taken delivery of a Grindylow for our next lesson."

"A what?" said Harry.

"Come on in," Professor Lupin said, pulling himself back into the room. Harry followed him inside the office and stared around. There was a bunch of old volumes on the shelves, along with some interesting looking objects that Harry had never seen before. Sitting in the corner of the office stood a very large tank of water, where a sickly green creature with sharp little horns had its face pressed against the glass, pulling faces and flexing its long, spindly fingers. Professor Lupin explained how the Grindylow was a water demon, and how most people fall victim due to its strong and iron grip. The Grindylow snarled at harry through the glass of the tank before disappearing into the seaweed. While Harry continued staring at it, Professor Lupin offered him a cup of tea, to which Harry accepted. While Professor Lupin waved his wand at the teapot, Harry took a seat across from him at the desk.

"I've only got teabags, I'm afraid," said Professor Lupin. "But I daresay you've had enough of tea leaves?"

"How did you know about that?" Harry asked.

"Professor McGonagall told me," said Professor Lupin, passing Harry a chipped mug of tea. "You're not worried, are you?"

"No," said Harry. He thought for a moment of telling Professor Lupin about the dog he'd seen in Magnolia Crescent but decided not to—he didn't want Lupin to think he was a coward.

"Anything bothering you Harry?" Professor Lupin asked, seeing Harry's thoughtful face.

"No," Harry replied. There was a somewhat awkward silence that fell between them until Professor Lupin spoke again.

"How is Mia?" he asked suddenly.

"What?" said Harry.

"I saw that Mia has been looking better since our lesson with the Boggart," Professor Lupin stated. "I know she was deeply affected by it."

"She's doing okay," Harry answered. "We talked to her after class—I think she's finally gotten over it."

"That's good. You do seem to care for her," Professor Lupin said, smiling behind his cup.

"I do. She's my best friend," Harry stated with his own smile. Then he had a sudden thought.

"Professor?" said Harry. "You know when Mia's Boggart came towards me?"

"Yes," said Professor Lupin slowly.

"Why did you jump in front of me to face it? Why didn't you let me fight it?" asked Harry. He was curious as to why Professor Lupin had come into the middle of it when the Boggart had faced him. Being worried about Mia at the time, he didn't think too much of it before now.

"I would have thought that was obvious, Harry," Professor Lupin replied, raising his eyebrows. "I had a suspicion of what Mia's Boggart was, hearing what it said and seeing how frightened she was. When it turned to you, I was worried that it would take another form of Lord Voldemort."

Harry was surprised by this—not just by Lupin's answer, but this was the first time Harry had heard an adult say Voldemort's name, besides Dumbledore.

"Clearly, I was wrong," Professor Lupin continued. "But I didn't think it a good idea for Lord Voldemort to materialize in the staffroom twice in a row. I imagined that people would panic."

"I didn't think of Voldemort," said Harry honestly. "I—I remembered those Dementors."

"I see," said Lupin thoughtfully. "Well, well…I'm impressed. That suggests that what you fear most of all is—fear. Very wise, Harry."

Harry didn't know what to say to that, so he drank some more tea. Not too much time had passed before there was a knock on the door, and Harry was surprised to see Snape walk inside, carrying a smoking goblet in his hands. His eyes narrowed upon seeing Harry, his lips turning into a nasty scowl. Professor Lupin greeted him politely as he came in, asking Snape to leave the goblet on the desk.

"You should drink that directly, Lupin," Snape said. "I made an entire cauldron if you need any more."

"I should probably have some again tomorrow," said Professor Lupin. "Thanks very much, Severus."

"Not at all," said Snape, but there was a look in his eye Harry didn't like. He backed out of the room, unsmiling and watchful. Harry stared at the goblet, having the sinking feeling that whatever it was, it certainly wouldn't taste pleasant. Professor Lupin explained to him that he was been feeling off-color, and Snape was willing to make the only potion that would help. As Lupin took a sip of the potion, his face twisted into one of great disgust, and he shuddered.

"Pity sugar makes it useless," he said. Harry was a bit concerned about this—from the way Snape looks at him, he was positive that he severely despises professor Lupin, for whatever reason, and, somewhere in the back of his mind, Harry wouldn't put it past Snape if that potion was actually poison.

"Professor Snape's very interested in the Dark Arts," he blurted out.

"Really?" said Lupin, looking only mildly interested as he took another gulp of potion.

"Some people reckon—he'd do anything to get the Defense Against the Dark Arts job."

Lupin drained the goblet and pulled a face.

"Disgusting," he said. "Well, Harry, I'd better get back to work. See you at the feast later."

"Right," said Harry, putting down his empty teacup. He bid Professor Lupin goodbye and left the office, where the goblet was still smoking on the desk.

MPOV

Mia could honestly say that so far, this has been an absolute amazing first date. Once she and Noah had left the castle, they made their way down to the gates at the end of the entrance to the school grounds, and Mia determined to keep her eyes straight forward as they passed the Dementors. When they were finally in the village, Mia's eyes grew wide as she looked all around, staring in wonder. The little village was like a postcard, with cottages here and there, old fashioned street lanterns, and a stone path sliding its way through the many shops and alleyways. Noah had chuckled at her astounded face and then he took her to the Three Broomsticks, where she tried Butterbeer, a famous beverage among the locals. It was sweet and filled her insides with complete warmth. While they drank their Butterbeer, Noah and Mia sat down in a corner table and talked, getting to know each other a little better. Noah was a pureblood, and he had an older sister who had graduated from Hogwarts already. His father worked in the Magical Law Enforcement Department at the Ministry, along with his mother. He talked a bit about his home life on his family's estate in northern England, and some of his hobbies. It turns out that owls were his favorite animals, he played as Chaser on the Ravenclaw Quidditch team, and he even admitted to crashing his toy broom into a tree when he was five years old.

In turn, Mia told him a bit about herself, her family, and some of her own hobbies. She told him about some of the accidental magic she performed as a young child and her favorite books, both magical and Muggle. They stayed at the Three Broomsticks for about an hour or so, and then they went back outside into the chilly air, making their way over to Honeydukes. Upon entering, Noah held the front door open for her, which Mia thought was extremely sweet and gentleman-like. When she entered, her mouth dropped open and she swore that she had died and gone to sweet heaven. Rows upon rows of Peppermint Imps, creamy nougat, multi-colored sugar cubes, hundreds and hundreds of chocolate, Droobles Best chewing Gum, Toothflossing Stringmints, and Exploding Bonbons. Mia could hardly believe her eyes, and she grinned to herself as she imagined the look on Brian's face if he saw where she was at the moment. Mia and Noah made their way through the aisles of the shop, sampling all the candy they came across. Mia had to grab double of everything since she was also grabbing things for Harry as well.

"Why couldn't he come?" Noah asked when she told him this.

"His aunt and uncle didn't sign the permission form," Mia said as she gathered some chocolate into a bag. "He tried asking McGonagall, but she wouldn't budge."

"He has some guts," Noah said. "How long have you known him?"

"Since I was little," Mia said. "We met at primary school, and we just sort of stuck with each other ever since."

Once they had both taken all their arms could carry, they paid for their purchases and set off. Night was slowly descending upon them, and the air was starting to grow even colder. Cursing herself for forgetting her cloak, Mia wrapped her arms around herself and ducked her head against the wind, her hair flying behind her. In the next moment, she felt something fall onto her shoulders and she looked up to see that Noah had taken off his cloak and gave it to her.

"Thanks," she said, her face going red again.

"You're welcome," Noah said with a smile. "Are you having a good time?"

"Definitely," Mia replied. "Thank you so much for asking me."

"Thank you for accepting," Noah said. "I'm just happy I got the prettiest girl in Hogwarts to be my date."

Mia's blush increased ten-fold, and she shyly looked away, a smile gracing her lips. Noah reached over and slowly took her small hand into his. Mia was startled for a moment, but she quickly relaxed and allowed him to hold her hand as they made their way through Hogsmeade together. They stopped by the post office, where hundreds of owls sat on tall stands in neat rows, each color coded depending on how fast you want your letters to get to their destination. Also, they passed by Madame Puddifoot's, a sickenly sweet and love-dovey place decorated in pink that made Mia want to gag. At one point they passed by Zonko's Joke Shop, where Mia glanced over to see Fred and George staring intently at them through one of the windows, following their every move. Seeing this, Mia quickly dragged Noah further up the path, wanting to get her date as far away from the pranksters as possible. By the time they had reached Dogweed and Deathcap, the local Herbology shop, their discussion had turned to Quidditch.

"This is the year, we're going to win," Noah was saying. "We've got the best Chasers."

"We'll we have superb Beaters with iron arms," Mia countered. "And we have a crazy, obsessive, and slightly mad team captain as the Keeper who will go to any lengths to win the cup."

"If you're luck is any different than it's been the past couple years, probably," Noah chuckled.

"Keep laughing, but you'll see," Mia said slyly.

"What makes you so confident?"

"What makes _you _so confident?"

"The team has me," Noah said proudly with a grin.

"Not very modest are you?" Mia giggled. Noah just grinned even wider and pulled her a little closer to his side.

"You really are something Mia Thatcher," he said.

"In a good way, or a bad way?" she asked.

"Maybe a little of both," he replied, smiling cheekily. "I like that about you—you're full of surprises. You hate to fly yet you talk fiercely about Quidditch as if you were playing, Draco Malfoy calls you Mudblood but you take it in stride, and Snape barely takes points off you in Potions yet you back talk him."

"How do you know about that?" asked Mia, dumbfunded.

"My best mate has a little sister in your year," Noah explained. "Plus, you're one of very few who has the guts to mouth off Snape in his own class. News like that travels fast."

"Well, he deserved it," Mia grumbled.

"I don't doubt that," Noah chuckled before checking his watch. "Wow, we've been walking around for a while, it's about time to start heading back up to the castle. The feast will be starting in about an hour."

"Okay," said Mia. The two of them started walking up the main street through the village, still holding each other's hand. They continued talking even as they reached the gates, the Dementors still standing guard. Once they passed, they walked up along the frost covered grassy slopes to the school, eager to get inside where it would be at least somewhat warmer than it was outside. The sun was slowly sinking into the distant hills beyond, covering the sky with fruitful colors. After a little while they finally reached the entrance hall, and Mia deeply inhaled the smell of baking pumpkin that was somehow wafting through the air. They walked up the staircase together and through the corridors, a comfortable silence falling between them during which time Mia gave Noah his cloak back to him. When they reached the fifth floor, Noah turned to face her.

"I'm afraid this is where we have to part," he said. "My common room is in the opposite direction of yours."

"All right," said Mia. "Thank you so much for today Noah, I had a wonderful time."

"So did I," he replied. "Mia, I was wondering…would you like to get together sometime? Maybe to study or just have lunch together?"

"I would love that," Mia said, a smile lighting up her face and the butterflies in her stomach fluttering. "Tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow," he agreed, and before Mia could blink, he leaned down and placed a soft kiss on her cheek, making her face flare red. He winked at her before walking down the corridor and disappearing around the corner. Mia stood rooted to the spot for a moment. She raised her hand to the cheek that Noah had kissed and her smile grew even bigger. Feeling giddy, she walked in the other direction and practically skipped her way back to Gryffindor tower. When she gave the password to the Fat Lady and walked inside, she immediately saw Harry sitting in one of the armchairs closest to the fireplace. He looked up and smiled at her as she went over to him.

"Hey Mia," he said. "How was Hogsmeade?"

"It was amazing," she replied. "Noah and I had so much fun, and I brought you back a lot of treats!"

Before Harry could say a word, Mia dumped a whole bunch of sweets right into his lap. She giggled at the look on his face as he stared open-mouthed at all the brightly colored candy, his eyes as wide as tennis balls.

"And trust me Harry, that's not even half the shop," Mia said, plopping down on the chair next to him. "Are Ron and Hermione back yet?"

"Not yet," said Harry. "Where did you go?"

"We saw a lot of the village, but not all," Mia said. "We went to a pub called the Three Broomsticks first, it's very popular, and they have the most amazing drinks ever, it's called Butterbeer and it's so sweet and warm. We had a little something to eat, and then we went to Honeydukes…"

Mia continued to explain everything to Harry, intentionally not saying too much about Noah so he wouldn't get worked up about it.

"What did you do while we were gone?" Mia asked when she was finished. "Were you able to find something to do?"

"Not exactly," Harry replied. "I was going to go up to the Owlery to visit Hedwig, but I actually went past Professor Lupin's office. He showed me the Grindylow we're going to be handling for our next lesson, and he made some tea."

"That was nice of him," Mia said with a smile. "He's a really great teacher. Did anything else happen?"

"Yeah, just as I was about to ask him something Snape walked in and—"

Harry was cut off from his sentence because at that moment, the portrait hole opened and Ron came inside with Hermione right behind him, arms full of Honeydukes sweets.

Hi guys," said Mia.

"Mia!" Hermione said, quickly walking over. "How was your date?"

"It was great!" Mia answered with a large smile. "Noah was so sweet, and so amazing—"

"Can we please not talk about the Ravenclaw twit?" Ron asked.

"I don't recall you complaining when Madame Rosmerta smiled at you and you turned red, Ron," Hermione countered, making Ron's face so dark he could put a tomato to shame. After listening to Ron and Hermione recount their own adventures in Hogsmeade, Harry continued telling them about having tea with Professor Lupin and how Snape came in with the goblet. By the time he was finished, Ron's mouth had dropped open.

"Lupin drank it?" he gasped. "Is he mad?"

"He must be. I wouldn't willingly drink anything Snape put in front of me even if you paid me a million Galleons," Mia said.

"We'd better go down, you know, the feast will be starting in five minutes," Hermione said, checking her watch.

After putting their coats and sweets upstairs in their dormitories, the four of them left the common room and joined everyone else as they made their way downstairs to the Great Hall. When they finally reached it, Mia couldn't help but grin at the marvelous sight. The usual floating pumpkins were raised high above their heads, with live bats flying about, orange streamers, and golden orange flowers and leaves scattered across the long tables next to the golden plates and goblets. Mia and her friends took a seat at their table, and as she looked across the hall, she saw Noah sitting at his table with his own friends. He caught her eye as he turned his head, grinned and winked at her, making her blush a nice shade of red and look back down at the table. As soon as everyone was settled in, the food appeared and Mia dug in with everyone else.

Everything was absolutely delicious, and even though they had their full share of candy from Honeydukes, Mia, Ron and Hermione managed to have second helpings. Ma grew even more excited when the deserts appeared. Since it was Halloween, there were mounds upon mounds of scrumptious looking chocolate, pumpkin pie, cream tarts, hard candy, caramel apples, lollipops, and so many other different things. Mia made some conversation with Rachel and her sister, who was staring at everything around her in complete awe. Even Sir Nick came floating by to say hello, and Mia listened sympathetically as he informed her that his request to join the Headless Hunt had, once again, been denied. The wonderful feats ended with a little performance by the Hogwarts ghost, in which Sir Nick brilliantly reenacted his own beheading. By the time it was all over, Mia felt very full and very sleepy. She had quite a long day, and she honestly couldn't wait to sink into her soft bed for the night.

Once the tables were all cleared, everyone stood up and started making their way out of the hall. Mia was so tired she barely listened to the chatter that was going on around her, and she yawned behind her hand. They all followed the rest of the Gryffindors along the usual path to the tower, but when they reached the corridor that ended with the portrait of the Fat Lady, they found it jammed with students. Mia's eyebrows furrowed at this, and she tried standing on her tip-toes to see what the holdup was.

"Why isn't anyone going in?" said Ron curiously.

"I'm not sure," Mia said. "I can't see anything."

"Let me through, please," came Percy's voice, and he came bustling through the crowd. "What's the holdup here? You can't all have forgotten the password—excuse me, I'm Head Boy—"

As Percy walked to the front of the crowd, some people gasped loudly and then a sudden silence started to fall on the crowd. Mia tried to get a closer look but she still couldn't see anything. _What in the world was going on? _

"Somebody get Professor Dumbledore!" came Percy's sharp voice. "Quick!"

In next to no time, Professor Dumbledore was weaving through the crowd, hurrying towards the Fat Lady's portrait, and as people moved out of the way for him, Mia and the others moved closer for a good look. As soon as they were close enough to see, Mia gasped, her hands flying to her mouth in shock.

The Fat Lady wasn't in her portrait, and Mia saw that it was nearly torn to shreds. Huge slashes crossed diagonally from one corner to the next, with chunks of the canvas thrown carelessly to the floor, bits of paper scattered everywhere. What happened? Where was the Fat Lady? Was she all right? Thoughts like this were flying through Mia's mind as Professor Dumbledore examined the ruined painting. More loud footsteps echoed in the corridor and in the next moment, Professors McGonagall, Lupin, and Snape were all rushing towards Dumbledore alarm and worry on their faces.

"We need to find her," Dumbledore said quickly. "Professor McGonagall, please go to Mr. Filch at once and tell him to search every painting in the castle for the Fat Lady."

"You'll be lucky!" said a cackling voice. Everyone looked up to see Peeves floating above the crowd, looking positively gleeful at the scene below him.

"What do you mean, Peeves?" said Dumbledore calmly, and Peeves's grin faded a little. He didn't dare taunt Dumbledore. Instead he adopted an oily voice that was no better than his cackle.

"Ashamed, Your Headship, sir. Doesn't want to be seen. She's a horrible mess. Saw her running through the landscape up on the fourth floor, sir, dodging between the trees. Crying something dreadful. Poor thing." he added unconvincingly.

"Did she say who did it?" said Dumbledore quietly.

"Oh yes, Professorhead," said Peeves, grinning. "He got very angry when she wouldn't let him in, you see…nasty temper he's got, that Sirius Black."

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